Running

"Something inside of me just said 'Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,' and I just took off.
You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."
-Pre

It seems that life revolves around running right now. We are in the middle of track season and I spent the entire day on Saturday at a track meet watching my students compete. It was so much fun, and it made me really miss competitive running.

Early Saturday morning, as I got out of the car, I held my breath for a second, because I knew something was coming. As soon as I opened the car door, a faint breeze blew and that ever so familiar scent sent memories rushing to my mind. Anyone who is a runner will know what I am talking about, it is the smell of the track, that potent mixture of rubber and tar, that brings both fear and excitement. I was suddenly no longer a 27 year old coach, I was a 17 year old girl with a brick in my stomach because I knew that the next few hours would bring sweat, aches, and pain. I suddenly remembered the day of the state track meet, 5 A.M. practices, and running in the cold while my coach watched from the car. Whenever I smell a track, I can not help but remember all of the pain I went through on that surface to reach my goals.

I have had a love/hate relationship with running most of my life. This is because as a competitive athlete whenever we got in trouble, our punishment was running. After I got done playing college soccer, I had no desire to run at all. I was done with running. Eventually, I got back into running and would run sporadically. However, last year, I began to run regularly again, and I have rediscovered my passion for running. I am now in a place where I look forward to running in the afternoon. It is such a great release. It is a time to unwind, or to take the frustrations of the day out on my run. When I finish I feel so great. It is such a fun way to end my day.