But it's alright with me

Thursday, 9/3/09--This morning I made my way to the West Chester Country Club, only to get there to see no one but cars. I figured the crew had already left. In fact, I thought I had caught of glimpse of them as I turned onto High Street. I parked my car and thought that I'd just get started with the hope that I'd catch up with them as I had done a couple of months ago when I was late. I also knew, though, that there was a possibility that they had taken an alternate route and not the usual one. I had a good start, realizing that I was running a bit faster than I had on this course in a while. I felt the coolness of the morning on my arms. There were times during the run when I tried to talk myself out of the full 7.9. There were times when my legs felt heavy and arms felt flaccid. But I was not going to be deterred running alone for the distance in the shadows of West Chester. I saw 29:10 at the 4-mile mark and realized I had maintained a good pace. While my run up the huge hill at the beginning of mile 7 was slow, I stuck with it, owing to the end in sight. As I climbed Ashbridge I passed two women running, one of whom was Anna May's mother, and took it home in 57:40, which is faster than the 57:55 I ran on 3/26/09 and the 58-something I ran on 4/2/09. And these runs were with a group. Admittedly, I don't set out to race these courses, as I typically do not run far and fast, and I don't believe a 7:18 pace is lighting the world on fire. But it's alright with me! Now if I can use this day to kick-start consistently good work I'd be forever grateful.