This morning, I got up at 6:00 a.m. to run 8 miles. This time of morning is still a little bit unfamiliar to me. It's dark, and I'm a little clumsy to begin with soon after I wake up. Given these factors, and the fact that a cab was making a U-turn in the middle of the street I was running on, which caused me to veer off of my straight path, I tripped over something (or nothing?), thought I caught myself, stumbled a couple more times forward on my feet, thought I was safe again, and then eventually fell right into a mud puddle, skinning my hand and my back, and of course, a little bit of my pride. I think I really scared the cab driver, who rolled his window down and, with astonishment, asked, "Are you okay?" Before he could finish, I said firmly, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Thanks." I tried to collect myself, realizing there was no use trying to brush the dirt off, before continuing on the remaining 7.75 miles I had yet to run.
Even though it is still technically spring time, the summer college semester begins in one week, the weather is consistently sunny and mid-80s, and baseball season is in full bloom. I embrace this time of year as a time to extend my outside activities beyond my nightly walks, to bike rides, benefit runs, beach days, and a newfound interest in softball. Yesterday Joe and I began the day with a 7:25am 5K run to benefit the Child Abuse Council . One of Tampa's largest and most regular 5Ks, the Gunn Allen Financial May Classic brought out over 1,500 of Tampa's athletes and do-gooders. Since it was a last-minute decision for us to register, we did not have a a chance to train, but we had both been keeping a somewhat regular exercise schedule in the weeks leading up to the run. Our goal was to finish, preferably to finish running. And we did. 36 minutes of concrete pounding, rhythmic breathing, and humanistic awareness, and we had completed our first 5K together, having run th...
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