One of the things that I need to tell myself is to really try and 'enjoy the ride' of the preparation for the next race. This was one of those days:
There's a trail run along the cliffs of Palos Verdes if you park at the lookout over the city, and it's one of my favorite runs in all of L.A. Driving there after work, I could see myself passing by store windows as a guy who has the stink of the city on him and heavy shoulders from a day in the office. My thoughts were on hiring, firing, and performance numbers when I started the run. But this quickly changed when I realized where I was. No Ipod was needed for this run, with no wind I had the ocean as my background noise and views all the way to Catalina. But as I got about 40 minutes into the run, I realized that I was getting that feeling that comes along rarely for me.
It occuured as I was running on the trail that this was one of those moments. It was right as I was rounding the trail and heading up towards the ravine, away from the ocean. There was brush grown up waist high on either side of me, the trail was hard and consistent, and the sun was just setting. It was right at that point where the sun has just passes below the horizon, and the sky lights up and is ablaze and right then- just for a few minutes- it's brighter than it was for the past hour. I could feel my eyes get wider as I ran, and I my senses are all tuned up. And, ah yes, That's when I felt it. Maybe it was just a runner's high. But when it comes on: "Sometimes, I've got it all figured out" is the feeling I get. A lot of times I can get bogged down with the day to day, but it takes a moment like this for me to remember what we're doing here. Everything is right with the me and I feel like the world is opening up in front of me and showing it's little treasures...specifically for me.
Like I said, the moment passes quickly and I fell back into a familiar run and it hurt, and I was sore, and I thought about work and other unpleasant things. But for those few moments I was lighter than air.
These are the moments I need to cherish-there is no better reason to sign up for these crazy races and spend time getting ready for them than these brief moments of pure happiness.
