In the dark of night

The sky was black, the air was cool. Rain fell from the sky in a steady fashion – too hard for it to be drizzling and too lightly to be called pouring.

As Mark and I bathed Miles, I waffled as to whether I should go out into the night for my run once the lil man was in bed. I had let other circumstances (sleep and shower) win out over a run twice that morning but it could be dangerous. It could be scary.

Or … it could be awesome.

So after rocking Miles to sleep to the lullabies of Kanye West, I threw on my capris, Brooks Nightlife half-zip and white cap and took Denali out for our scheduled 3-miler using a 5:1 interval. Even though I chose a route along busy, well-lit streets, I realized quickly that following my planned interval would be difficult. I had two options: constantly turn on the back light to the Garmin or go by feel, using landmarks as needed.

So I chose the third option: To run. Run until I couldn’t any more, walk to catch my breath and run some more.

A funny thing happened when I took off the limits of my arbitrarily planned schedule: I didn’t have to stop and walk. I might have had to slow down – either to catch my breath or to maintain my footing on wet ground – but I didn’t have to stop. It was as if my mind, body and spirit connected, remembering what it used to be like to run. Really run. It was incredibly freeing. And gratifying. I felt like I found myself again.

Of course, after I rounded home grinning with pride, I nearly found my dinner again. Let’s just say I won’t be fueling up for a long run with a Cuban sandwich (homemade) with extra jalapenos any time soon. Or a 3-mile run at a 10-minute/mile pace, for that matter.

Have you had a good run/workout lately?