Running Late

Ahhh, Wednesday... My daughter's school starts an hour late on Wednesdays so we get to sleep in a bit. I stayed up reading an extra bit last night and that's always heavenly. The only drawback of these late Wednesday mornings is that I don't have a chance to run first thing. Running later in the day is always so much more difficult. I had lunch with some of my staff today so I couldn't run then and I had a meeting until 3:00 so I couldn't run before I picked up my daughter. Then a gift fell from the sky and she got invited to play at a friend's house this afternoon. So I got my run in after all.

I started out not feeling like running at all, but I didn't want to refuse the gift of the free time so I told myself I'd run 3 miles - out and back, easy, no brainer run. Then I started off and felt sluggish at first but after a mile or so I started feeling good. So I told myself I'd run 4 miles -at the turn-around point I still felt like running so I ran on to the 5, then the 6, then the 7 mile-turn around point! And then I turned around!

The sky was very gray today, and it was colder than I thought. My ears wished for more than a running cap, but I did wear gloves so my hands were comfortable. I ran along the riverwalk and the river was gray, the sky was gray, the trees even looked gray. I saw a beautiful heron perched quietly at the edge of the water on a fallen log. I love heron. Four ducks - 2 male and 2 female - were preening in the water near the 6 mile turn-around spot. Their feathers were so shiny and bright in the midst of the gray - brilliant blue and green. They were beautiful.

So while I prefer to start my day off with a run, running late is a gift as well and a great way to end the day.