Go Running

A rough one today, but for very different reasons than expected.  I had phone issues.  Major ones.  To make a long story short, my contacts decided to combine themselves, in no particular order at all.  So, when say, John texted me, it popped up as Phil.  After an hour on the phone with Apple, and a master reset of the damn thing, it got worse!  Yeah, now my backup contact lists became jumbled as well.  All of a sudden I had 4-6 Kate's in my hone, with 4-6 different numbers under the name, and then they were still different in each of my backup lists.  Needless to say, this was a bit strange.  Two hours on the phone, and a handful of completely stumped Apple reps later, and we finally were able to restore the phone to the way my old phone was.  This means my last call and text were from late June.  Well, at least it's fixed now.

Met up for dinner in DC with an old client, then, because I was feeling like a bit of a waist on the day, I threw my nice clothes in my awesome Osprey backpack, slipped on the Five Fingers and hit the road for an 8-miler back to the house.

It has been a very long time since I have run more than 4 miles or so, and there was that wonderful return to the calm that is distance training.  It was pitch black, I was along the canal, literally two people passed me on bikes the entire time.  I got lost in my mind and just ran.  I was brought back to the days of my marathon training.  I was addicted to running.  It was my one and only true release at the time.  When I started training for my first marathon, my mother was really, really getting bad, and through my first four, she just got worse.  After my fifth, then my 50-miler, was when she passed away, and then it just became a drug to me.  All I did was run.  I remember it fondly though, it really was so calming to just get into that rhythmical state, hours on end it seemed of just pumping the body through space.  My mind could get lost in fantasy, in planning, in creation, or nothing; I was always free to be whatever I wanted to be.

Tonight was the same.  My mind wandered to California, to my life with my new gym and great girlfriend.  I thought about the journeys and adventures we would have together throughout the West, and the people we would meet along the way.  I thought about new training programs to introduce, and my training schedule towards next years CrossFit Games.  And I thought about nothing, just listened to my feet strike the ground, to my breath, to my backpack swaying with my stride.  The crickets, the wind, just me and nature, all alone, running.

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage