Legs

The morning was gray and cold outside my kitchen window, and inside were at least two of my very favorite things: warm and quiet. It was the kind of morning that all I wanted to do was lay around all day wrapped in a blanket sipping hot coffee. But goals are not achieved in one day, nor in one fleeting moment of inspiration. Goals are achieved through a relentless striving, effort on the days you feel you have none to give, and accumulated hours of training and making the right choices.

Dragging my feet, I got dressed and stared down at my pre-run routine. Core stability exercises followed by dynamic stretching. I was in very much the opposite state of wanting to do any of it. There probably aren't words for how much I didn't want to start the workout, much less go out into the cold and run 8 miles. I started with planks and ended with leg swings. I filled my water bottle and placed my Garmin on the windowsill while I pulled on arm warmers, a head wrap, and gloves. The Garmin beeped once to tell me it hard turned on, and too soon as always, beeped again to tell me it was ready to go. I glanced down at my bare legs and at least felt some pride, regardless of not wanting to go out. I am proud of these legs, these lean, strong, runner's legs. I would prefer if they had a little more muscle mass, but they're beautiful and take me places- sometimes swiftly, sometimes far.

As I wrapped the Garmin around my wrist, it beeped again to tell me if I didn't do something in 30 seconds, it was going into power save mode. "Okay, okay, I'm going", I replied as I headed out the door.

The good thing about my long runs is that I can pretty much do them at whatever pace I want. The bad thing is that my legs would prefer to do it fast, regardless of the drain that would put on the rest of me. I'm blessed that these legs have developed something of an auto-pilot. My mind drifts off to some other place and time, and minutes later when I come to, I'm still running. Usually too fast, but I take what I can get. I check myself and slow my pace and drift back off again. As hard as I try, I usually cannot remember where I was in my day dream so I'm disappointed to not be able to continue the dream. My brain moves on to something else.

I spot a few new people on the bike path, no doubt beginning their New Year's resolutions. The regulars at first don't recognize me, bundled up in all the pink I got for Christmas. Pink shirt, pink arm warmers, pink head wrap. My gloves are black and pink. My shorts black. Gray and blue shoes for today. I smile and say good-morning and recognition crosses their faces and they respond back. The other day, a woman complimented me on my new capris: an eclectic explosion of what looks like technicolor lava.

I watched ducks and geese paddle around the creek, people out walking their dogs. Most people looked happy, some were suffering under the weight of their new goals. I felt excited and relieved at the relative ease in which my legs moved. I'm between training seasons, and this will be one of the few times I will not lose my fitness in the transition.

I made it home, did a short stretch and took a hot bath. I plopped two eggs over easy on top of a bed of arugula and spinach, with tomatoes and avocado, a little salt and pepper, and red wine vinegar. After gobbling that down, I had a few pieces of chocolate almond toffee. As a matter of fact, I think I'll go have another right now.