I'm Still Running...but the Road is Ever Changing

Whew, it's been a while. I've not forgotten the blog; I actually come to visit it every now and then, like a faithful old friend over a cup of coffee or an easy telephone conversation. Over the months, I've collected some thoughts and I  begin to write, but then I am easily distracted by an unanswered email, a text message, or a phone call and my attention moves away from it.  However, in the months (I can't believe it's been months...) since I last posted, I've continued to run.  I was pretty disappointed from my St. Jude Marathon experience, but not to the point of giving up running.  After all, I've come to identify myself, at least in part as a runner.

So, I run.  Last Saturday, I ran in the Move it Memphis 10K.  I unexpectedly ran a 10K PR  @ 1:03:28.  I beat last year's Move it Memphis time by about 7 minutes and last Summer's UPS Ulitmate 10K by almost 9 minutes.  I attribute by performance to great weather, a later start time, a nice cup of coffee with breakfast, and the pacing of a good friend.  All in all, I'm pleased to still be setting PR's at my advanced age, or at least while my age continues to advance. Pleased?  I should say thrilled.

Prior to Saturday's race, I was considering that my running career may be entering into a new stage of diminishing expectations.  I still want to put in the miles, but PR's would be a thing of the past.  At the same time my youngest son and I are planning a backpacking trip later this month. Neither one of us has any real camping/hiking experience.  I've been accumulating some essential equipment for the trip, and doing lots of reading on the subject. A friend of mine who has done some serious backcountry backpacking, recommended Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods, Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail."  It has been a marvelously funny, entertaining and informative read.  It has put me in the  mood to head out on the trail and hike into the wilderness, pack upon my back, knife on my belt, and pipe and tobacco in my pocket...actually I don't smoke or own a pipe, but it does sound like the thing to do around a campfire.  

And so, I was considering that my running would cease to be the running I've been doing over these past 4 years, but  rather it would meld into a hiking  life.  It would be the thing to keep me in shape to carry a 45 lb. backpack over miles and miles of wilderness trails.  But then there was the PR on Saturday.

My life seems to do this a lot: just when I think I know the path I want to travel, an unexpected fork in the road appears, and I find myself going in another slightly different direction.  I do believe we do have a certain amount of control over our lives, otherwise everything is predestined and why the hell bother... but I also believe we have to have some flexibility in our life's road map.  Otherwise, we may miss some of what life has planned for us, and we  may miss some of the best sites along the journey.  I'm going to try to keep this in mind, whether I'm running over the asphalt roads around my neighborhood, or a leaf strewn trail through the woods. I want to keep my eyes open, and my feet ready to tread the path life has put before me.