Highway 188

Well, I'm officially back in wonderful SP and as settled in as I can be. My clothes have all been clean since the day I got home, I've gotten used to seeing the usual crowd at morning Mass, visited my mom at work and heckled with Rick at least once, gone to the Blue Spoon multiple times, enjoyed baked chicken Thursday at the Eagle Inn with grandma and my room is definitely not as tidy as I would like it to be. Welcome home.

One thing I really enjoy about being home is my running route and its variations. I really started running after my freshman year of college and it's been an uphill battle ever since. On again, off again, on again, off again. But one thing I always cling to, no matter which city I'm in, is forming a route that I know well...with at least one or two bathroom stops along the way (these are vital and the only real reason I need routes). I consistently run the same pace so I know that if I run x amount of minutes I've covered distance y. My absolute favorite route in Sauk City/Prairie du Sac goes out onto Highway 188 across one bridge and back into town across the other. You can smell the farms and simply enjoy being outside of the city while still not being too far away. The last time I successfully completed this route was two years ago (I think it's about 7-8 miles) and my goal is to run it at least once before I pack up the Taurus and head back up north to Fargo. You think it'd be easy seeing as I just ran that half marathon in May. Well, think again. As you know my training for that run was shoddy at best, and now I'm making up for lost time, I suppose. After running off and on at NST and my silent retreat, I've ran pretty faithfully the first week of being home, averaging about 3 miles/day, and it's actually been difficult. Imagine that.

A small confession: ever since I started running all over dodge, I've had a hard time reconciling going any less than 3.5-4 miles or more. This is often the biggest obstacle that keeps me from running, and unfortunately convinces me more often than it should. But on days when it's 90+ degrees outside and I wait until 5 pm to run and can only go 2.5 miles, I shouldn't be surprised that my legs hurt, my throat is as dry as the Sahara and I kind of wouldn't mind walking after I hit 15 minutes.

It's so easy to beat yourself up over not being as good at something as you once were. Take myself and running, for example. I like one of my friend's responses when he found out that Josie and I crossed the half marathon finish line in 1.59:30: "Wow Kels! That's actually really good! I never would've guessed you could do that and were such a runner. I mean, that's a really great time!" I was flattered yet quick to beat myself up thinking, "you should've seen what I was able to do a few years ago," but tried to put that out of my mind as quickly as it came in. I'm not the same young woman that I was four years ago. I've changed, grown a lot, and my skill sets and interests have waxed and waned.

Right now my goal is to get to a point where I can really enjoy and look forward to a run each day simply to keep my sanity. Hopefully sometime before August 4th I can tackle the heat and go see an old friend on foot, Highway 188.