I'm Gonna Run Bay to Breakers

I've ran close to 90 miles in the last few months. I feel ready for Bay to Breakers. A second ago I wrote that I didn't feel ready, but once I read those words, I had to delete them all. Yes, I feel ready. No, I haven't qualified to get into the elite starting pack, but that's not my goal. My goal is not to compete at all. This is coming from a competitive cross-country runner. Yeah, I used to kick butt in the sport, but now that I am older, or maybe just more tired, I am really just content to finish. Not that I have any intention of walking the race--NO, I am going to run the darn thing. Well, run it as much as I can amongst 60,000 other people (sometimes you have to walk, unwillingly).  This race is for me. I'm going to push. I'm going to elbow my way through the throng of drunk people, and weave my way around the floats, and dodge--at all costs--the naked people. Pacific Ocean, here I come!

I also signed up for a See Jane Run 5K race that happens a couple weeks after Bay to Breakers. The Jane people are holding a practice run this Saturday. They're setting up a 5K course in Alameda. I've signed up for this practice run, and boy am I ready. I'm not there to compete, but there is a part of me that still wants to see where I stand amongst my peers. Plus there are mile markers and I've always wanted to see my splits.

I'm liking this running thing. When I run there is nothing else but breath and body. The more you run this time, the farther you can go next time. The more I run, the further my thoughts are left behind, the further every day life, and the future and past, and everything that ails me gets left behind. There is just you and your body. And after a run nothing is as good as feeling the sweat drip off your head and the clarity of your mind and the dull ache in your muscles that let you know that you are alive.

Yeah, bring it on.

This running thing is good.