Are We Having Fun Yet?

No.

I ran 10 miles yesterday.  It was a beautiful day, perfect running weather, but it still sucked.  Really, wasn't pleasurable in the least.  I earned one brief runner's high, but it wasn't intense or long-lasting enough to make the other 9.7 miles worth it.  Maybe it has to do with how accelerated my training regime has been, I know I'm forcing it, or maybe 10k is my optimum distance, but I'm still regretting have signed up for this thing.  Just really want it to be over at this point.  And my times haven't been anything to brag about either.

You know what got me through it?  Have you seen 127 Hours yet?  I have.  If you live in a cave or Egypt then the following my be a spoiler for you so considered yourself warned.

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The dude cuts his arm off.  With a small multipurpose tool.  Using his non-dominant hand.  After 5 days stuck in a ravine with almost no food or water.  And THEN he hikes out of the canyon, even rappelling at points.  And THEN he climbs on to a rescue chopper of his own volition.  At least that's what happens in the movie.  I haven't read his book, a true story, but I hear the movie is faithful.

So whenever I started feeling sorry for myself while running I would repeat over and over in my head, "dude cut his arm off, dude cut his arm off, dude cut his arm off and then hiked out of a canyon."  It wasn't necessarily an empowering mantra, but it would shame me into not stopping..  I mean, the dude cut his arm off.  His own arm.  I think I can suck it up and run a few miles.

I did see one interesting thing during my 90minutes of running (told you my times suck); a man scolding a screaming parrot.  He was walking along a popular local path with the parrot sitting on his hand and it was screaming obnoxiously and he was yelling back at it, "no!  No!  You don't do that!  Stop that!"  Had it been later in my run, I may have thought "hallucination," but I was only 3 miles in and quite lucid.  Plus, I don't know if a hallucination would have been that bizarre.

Anyway, back on topic, for better or worse it will be all over by 10:30ish PST, Sunday May 1st.



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