Running Thoughts

I am often asked, “What do you think about when you are running?” For years I would run without music but now with all these new miniaturized ipods and such it is a lot easier to enjoy some tunes on a run. It seems to add a bit of motivation and distract from pain on long runs. My thoughts still meander much like a high mountain spring creek, more so on the longer runs than on shorted runs. Shorter runs seem be to the time to mentally clear my desk and create lists….

“…okay 5 mile loop, I think my fastest time on this loop is around 40 minutes, it could be way faster but for the hills, yup it is the hills that slow me down, watch the gravel, the driveway is .25 miles long, I gotta get through this so the boys don’t play to much Wii while I’m gone, going in to Mexico in November for a week need to pack: shorts, socks, snorkeling gear, snorkeling in the Bahamas on the Bimini Road that was fun and in Guam with Amy, bad sunburn, also need to pack more light clothes, the kids stuff, sun-block, camera, does Cheryl have a photo shoot tonight?, look at the size of the pine cones from that tree, the squirrels that take them must be huge or just demented like the critter from Ice Age, “Ball of Confusion, that’s what the world is today, hey hey……..Ball of Confusion…”, beautiful clouds, is that a deer or a tree stump, it’s a deer and a buck too, where is my gun?, Monroe Fire Department station #32 – how you boys doing?, Look both ways when crossing the street, 12:30 to this point I remember when it use to be 16:00, up that road is the 3 mile loop, I could do figure 8 and make it a 8 mile run, no wait I’d be covering less distance, it would be a 5 mile loop with two times over the middle part so it would only be an 7 mile loop, which way would be faster?, pretty flowers, new paint stripes, how do they make the little reflective balls in the paint?, I hate the new reflective vests at work, “Does this vest make me look fat? No it is the bunker gear that makes you look fat, the vest just brings more attention to it!”, “…Do you really want to live foreveeeerrrrrrrrr???......Forever Young…..”, cool old car, more pine cones, If a mile is 5280 feet and my stride is around 7 feet how many steps in a mile?…..can’t do that one… I’ll count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5……78…..126, I love this song, 145 I think, ugh I lost count, I should just do it on a track and not have music, laundry, groceries: veggies, milk, eggs, “I’d like to buy some cheese and some butter.” Robin Williams is so funny, The boys need to do their reading when I get back, oh they trimmed the trees in their driveway and it looks nice now I can see around the corner and wont get hit by a car, the last crash we went on was a just a car vs. guard rail and I’ll we got to do was set up cones and disconnect the battery, I need a new batter for my other running watch and the heart-rate band but that needs to be mailed in and will cost $50, my heart is still beating so screw it, cpr 100 beats per minute and push to you feel ribs breaking, “….the Reflex, flex flex flex flex flex….buh dum dum dum….”, ooo a quarter, remember that time you saw a pair of Oakley sunglasses and didn’t pick them up and on your way back they were gone?, bag of pot definitely the most bizarre thing I’v ever found running, need to add an epi pen to the list for Mexico, I wonder if the turtles will be laying eggs on the beach, okay two miles down and the hills begin drive the arms and knees just a bit more, 17:30, that’s 17 divided by two, uh, 16 by 2 is 8 minute miles and 1 would add another 30 seconds for 8 thirties and 3 more seconds would add 15 more seconds per mile so right at 8:45 per mile good pace, feels a bit slower but whatever, “…..riding on the metroooooo….”, that train ride in Japan was weird, I wonder what the radiation is doing now?, oh yeah gotta make an appt for my year end physical, that’s the house with the mean dog, where’s a rock, I could just do it David style and kill the bear and lion with my bare hands, and this rock…….and stick, how does it work when you see rocks and your mind says don’s step on that and you foot lands just to the side of the rock, that’s cool, like skiing moguls you pick a line and go , but I always crash, I’ll stick to running, those folks still have that dead car in the yard and the blackberries are slowly eating it, “Feed me Seymour feed me!!!”, top of the hill and then one flat-ish mile, nice, mow the yard, pick up the dog poop, spray the weeds in the driveway, get the trash to the end of the driveway, order more gravel for the driveway, PAVE THE DRIVEWAY, the ranch in Montana has a 23 mile long driveway you should be happy, “…baby this town rips the bones from your back, it’s a death trap, it’s a suicide wrap, we gotta get out while we’re young, baby we were born to Ruuuunnnnn…”, gotta get that book back from Bob, crap I forgot to renew the tabs on the Honda, I want a Hummer they are getting cheap now, maybe an older style Land Rover, “I’ll sit here in the car while Mike tags the ferocious lion currently feeding on its latest kill and protecting its young”, glass is a liquid, taco salad for dinner tonight, snot shot oops got my shoe, Mile 4 at the intersection looks like I’m going to be at 35 minutes right on pace 34 divided by 2 is 17…..plus half of one is 30 same as mile 2 so still on 8:45 pace even with the hills, nice, going to finish the marathon in first place!! Ahead of the Kenyans the old white guy from Monroe comes from behind to win at Boston, “looks like a 4 iron here at Augusta, little bit of wind in his eyes I guess as he…..oh IT’S IN THE HOLE……”, hey look two different trees growing out of that dead stump, Halloween candy the good kind not that sugar free crap the lady down the street use to give us and no pencils either, bean dip and nacho chips for tomorrow night, Oh gotta get flip-flops for Gabe in Mexico, Jon’s got soccer practice at 5:00 tonight, another house for sale, more pine cones?, this is the pine cone run, oh drip of sweat right in the middle of my sunglasses, blurry vision in one eye GREAT!, now I swerve to miss a pine cone get hit by a car end up in the hospital and no one will know that I just beat the Kenyans or who I am, well maybe the medics, I wonder if M*A*S*H is on HULU I should check, oh I feel a blister on my toes from my last long run, hard to tell which toe it is on, 5 miles at the turn here at the driveway, “…Mia Hee Mi Ya Who My ya Ha My ya Haha…….”, sharp pokey gravel step carefully, MORE PINE CONES, stream with fish in it under the road, no deer in the field, winter is coming better clean out the fireplace, are there pine cones in Mexico?, potty, shower, food, homework and off to soccer practice, mile 5, 44:30 little fast at the finish but it is downhill , whatever, still beat the Kenyans and didn’t get hit by a car.

Tony