Little Red Corvette

I was out a bit late last night (salsa... what else) so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this morning's run. I'm not used to a late night before my Wednesday runs, but I had that eye-of-the-tiger feeling for some reason.

I already knew I'd be doing the Seebeka loop in Tinicum. Some impressive rain storms had rolled through last night, making a few puddles here and there and restoring some of the car wash properties to the Interesting Part of the loop, but conditions were good. Overall a quiet morning... lots of mist and moisture hanging about. I thought I'd see more wildlife, but the sightings were limited to the usual cranes, a deer here and there, and one Felis silvestris catus.... something I haven't seen in Tinicum before.

I've run this route enough times now that I'm starting to really know every nook and cranny. While in some ways, this can lead to boredom, in other ways, it's liberating. I know where the roots and burrows lie on the interesting part... I know how many bends there are in the trail before you pop out the other side... and this knowledge allows me more control over my run.

Like I said earlier, I kind of had the eye-of-the-tiger feeling this morning and really was in the mood to tackle the run. Now, I've had this feeling before and then wound up feeling disappointed in my body for not rising to meet the challenges I place upon it in the manner I would like. Today felt different. Today, I felt in control. I was working pretty hard (really hard, at times), but I felt like my body was doing what I wanted it to do... speeding up when I wanted to, holding steady, slowing a bit, etc. I don't know how else to describe it other than I kind of felt like the car and the driver at the same time. That was a new expereince for me.

I feel like my running has changed a lot in the past six or so months. I have to admit to having mixed feelings about it. It's fun and exciting to run faster and see results from the work I've put in. On the other side of the coin, I feel more pressure now in my running than I ever did before. It hasn't gotten to this point yet, but I do worry about that taking some of the fun and enjoyment out of it for me. Like all things, I suppose, it's about finding the balance.

6.5 in 54:40.