Slow and Steady

I'm not saying slow and steady wins the race.  I think fast wins. I'm hoping slow and steady will keep me from getting hurt.  So today I set out on a slow and steady 8 mile run.  I mapped out my route last night.  As soon as I left my driveway I decided to forget about my planned route.  I was just going to run.  I was going to run 8 miles in my new neighborhood.

I spent the 8 miles reflecting about how lucky I am and how far I've come.  Not just me.  I was thinking about Brian and me (I? myself?) .  We met 21 years ago.  That in itself is insane.  I'm not going to recap the last 21 years.  All I will say is we were together for awhile, apart for awhile, and thankfully, are spending the rest of our lives together.  It sounds silly but I always knew we would be together; even when we were apart.  But never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how amazing things would be.

I promise this will not turn into a mushy love story post.  It will be about running, kind of.  As I was running, I thought about the first time Brian and I moved to Seattle.  We had been married a week.  We packed up a U-Haul and drove across the country.  We had no jobs and knew nobody.  We were happy and broke.  I remember one afternoon, before we found jobs, we decided to splurge.  We went out and rented Vanilla Sky (waste of $5), bought a pizza and a 6 pack of cheap beer.  I remember talking about how one day we would look back and think what an amazing time it was.  And it was.

Nine years, and 2 kids later, and we're back.  Things couldn't be more different.  We are no longer in the city.  We moved to, what might be, the perfect place for us.  As I ran around our new home it dawned on me; this is where I have always wanted to be.  Not specifically this place, but a small town, on the water, near a city.  It is perfect.

Now...back to the run.  It was awesome.  Slow, but awesome.  I enjoyed every mile.  I stopped and took pictures.  I talked to a couple walking their dog.  Said "Hi" to the dozens of other people running.

This is less than a mile from our house.

Not sure what the goofy look is about.  Think I was feeling silly about stopping and taking a picture of myself.  But I wanted to document my first run here and remember how wonderful it was.

Not only is it beautiful here, it's hilly.  I don't think this picture does it justice.

It felt like it was a mile long.  Wish I could say I stopped just to take this picture. To be honest, it was an excuse, because I couldn't breathe.

Here is one last picture of the beautiful place I am lucky enough to call home.

As for the actually running part, I really did feel great.  I tried to keep my pace slow.  I'm working on keeping long runs easy.  It's difficult because I usually just want to finish, so I run faster than I should.

I ran 23 miles this week.  I think my goal was 25 but I also took 2 spin classes.  I'm feeling good, and I should be ready to run a good race at the Mercer Island Half.  I really need to register for it.  My secret goal is under 2 hours.  This is a pretty unrealistic goal but something to shoot for.