Run: 4.2 miles in :33:45 @ 8:30 a.m.

Weather: Cloudy, 43°F, 90% Humidity, Wind: CALM; feels like 43°F.
Pace: 8:02 min/mile
Course: ?

Six months ago, I was running nearly 40 miles a week over the course of four to-five days. Of late, I try to run once every week or so. I have not run "competitively," that is to say in a race I had to pay to register for, since finishing a 50k this past July 4.

This morning I left the house with a duration goal in mind: "run" (keep moving" for thirty minutes; that was it, just keep going for thirty minutes regardless of how far or fast I run. (This was a strategy a fellow track and field coach follows in his own training, and as I greatly respect his coaching acumen, I reckoned it was a good way to go.)

I could not, however, completely turn off that desire to know how far I went even if it did not factor into the route or distance I ended up covering. In the end, through periods of a quickened and then slowed pace, I "ran" 4 miles at an adequate pace. Most importantly (at least psychologically), though, is the fact that I achieved my simple goal for today.

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!