I'm Ok/ You're OK.

Today I ran ten miles on the Towpath in Merriman Valley.  It was just me, the leaves that are stubbornly sticking to the trees, the geese migrating overhead, and lots of good music.


This is my favorite song by Adam and the Ants.  Look at him:  he's so beautiful, and he's the Dandy Highwayman!


I ran most of my short runs of five or fewer miles by myself when I was visiting my father in Florida, and that was fine.  Lately I have grown accustomed to running the lsd without music and with at least one other person, if not with a group.  When I didn't get my act together to post a run in The Ohio Runners Network group page, I was a little bit grumpy about going out by myself for ten miles.  Don't get me wrong; I'm sure I could have posted and someone would have joined me, but I was worried that nobody would respond, and I don't handle rejection well.

It was after my typical, soul-sucking, hateful first two miles that I started to relax and enjoy my music and being inside my head.  I remembered what it is like to enjoy ME.

This is EXACTLY what it looks like when I start to feel good after two miles on a long run.

It was a perfect Fall morning, and I'm so glad I got out there to enjoy it.  It made up for the crappy food choices I made this weekend.  (Just a hint:  You should NEVER eat a chocolate-peanut butter bar AND a chocolate chip cookie within five minutes of each other.  Never.  Especially when you have no intention of cutting back for the rest of the day.)

Speaking of chocolate. . .

Have you registered for the Hot Chocolate 5k/15k?  If not, remember to use my code, TroubleRunHat, to score a free hat.  I'm so excited for this race, especially since I just found out that my friend Deidre is driving up from West Virginia to run with me!  We are going to have a nice dinner together (and some wine, no doubt), and then we will stuff our faces with chocolate.  Will you be there?

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