River Front run

What I had intended to do was add the GPS image of my full course run at River Front Park, but something strange is going on with the upload to MotionBased.com. Not sure what's going on. Anyway, today was my first full course run there. Usually I just use it to do a quick 5-6 miles, but had extra time to do the entire thing. From what I have seen in another map of the park, the course was something like 8.89 miles, but my Forerunner told me it was 8.3 (and I even had it set to get GPS info every second, so I'd imagine the accuracy is something like +/- .1). Someone's info is wrong, and I wish I knew whose it was. The only way to determine this is to run it again (or a few more times) and see if there are any discrepancies.

Anyway, the run was nice and the pace was pretty relaxed (1:28:00). I even stopped to look around a bit at the turn-around point at the end. I like seeing floating ice in rivers. Something peaceful about seeing water flow slowly and change in front of your eyes. And two of the same things (H2O and the solid form of H2O), yet in different states, together as one and working together moving into unknown territory. This, to me, is peace. After all, this is one of the reasons I trail run; to get away from it all and see and experience things that I probably would not have if I were either road running or not running at all. The trail was a bit muddy, but it feels good to go through the mud once in a while (especially since our instinct is to NOT go through mud in our daily routine).

This reminds me of an ad for Inov-8 shoes I saw today in Trail Runner magazine today that said, "Once it gets into your blood, off road running is a powerful narcotic..." How true this is. I sometimes wonder how I've gone on with my life without it in the past. How was I satisfied with myself? How did I really know who I was if I never pushed myself beyond my limits? How did I test my soul? I guess I really never knew myself in that sense. And, to be honest, I'm still learning about myself and I'm sure I'll continue to learn who I am and what my limits are (as I surpass them!).

Stay strong,
Mircea