Saturday, December 24, 2016

353. 13.1 miles

My achilles tendons hurt. I’m guessing it has something to do with the fact that I ran 13.13 miles yesterday. To put it in perspective, my normal runs are between 3-5 miles. I only very rarely go above those distances. My previous high for running was just over eight miles. This run also occurred during a weird mix of rain and snow over on a mid-Friday morning.

Yesterday, at about this same time, I was sitting at my computer trying to pump out a few blog posts before I got on with my day. I have next week off, so I thought about people I might want to see. There was a girl I dated earlier this year who I hadn’t seen in awhile. Things ended a bit bumpy, but the eventually warmed up and we’ve had sporadic communication since. I thought it might be nice to get coffee just to catch up. I texted her with a “Random of out the blue text: How are you doing?” Simple enough. She responded that she was doing great and that she got engaged last week. That wasn’t the response I was expecting.

Do you know that feeling when you lift something too heavy and you end up seeing stars? It kind of felt like that. It was a surprise that I wasn’t prepared to receive. Seeing someone you were quite close with just a few months ago take a very big step is a bit jarring. Before you assume that this is some sort of “not over her” thing, I can assure you it’s not. We both moved on over the summer.

I was flustered, but I couldn’t really take it out on anyone or anything in my apartment. I went to the sink and splashed my face with cold water. I then changed into my running clothes and stretched out for a while. I was texting with another friend about wanting to run 10 miles. I didn’t think I actually would, plus a little bit more.

I went on my usual route on the bike trail, heading east around Cedar Lake. I stayed on the bike trail once I got to the Cedar Lake beach and I continued west. I looped back towards Benilde Saint Margaret. By that time I had already logged about six miles, but I still felt good. I decided to head around Lake of the Isles. I couldn’t feel my feet and I was soaking wet. I probably saw only about six other runners out the entire time. I tried to smile and wave to each of them. I needed to fight out a smile.

I rounded back towards Cedar lake and checked my phone. I needed about 1.5 miles to hit the half marathon mark. I headed up France Avenue to loop to Wayzata boulevard, which is north of my apartment. Just as I hit the pedestrian bridge that goes over 394, I crossed the mark. I was cold and wet, but my adrenaline was pumping.

Was I angry about the news that I got about two hours earlier? Anger isn’t the right word. Surprised. Shocked. Exasperated maybe. I told her that I wished her the best for her and her fiance.

There’s no use in wallowing. Sometimes you just got to get up and go. You’ll be surprised where it takes you.

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