I find my peace and solitude

I run because it's my passion. Every time I walk out the door, I know why I'm going where I'm going and I'm already focused on that special place where I find my peace and solitude. - Sasha Azevedo

Today was amazing. I can't begin to describe how good I felt. To the point where near the end, I was about in tears. Just because I had this total feeling of overwhelming happiness. Running completely changed my life. The very idea that I'm training for a marathon right now. That my body has the capacity, the strength, energy and has been trained to the point where it will soon cover more miles that the majority of the human population dreams of is just beyond where my imagination, my goals and dreams ever would have gone a few years ago.

I was not athletic growing up. I played sports in high school, but it was really on a whim and total desperation for players that first season. And to be honest, I wasn't even particularly good at it. I like it, I felt great, but innate talent with a stick and ball, I did not have. College saw any athletic potential I might have harbored go straight out the window. I had fleeting love affairs with trying to jog a mile from time to time, but I simply couldn't acquire the passion.

Nothing near to the passion I have for running now. I simply feel complete when I'm running. Safe, secure, confident, focused, determined. The rhythmic pace, the breeze created as I cut through the still air, the steady breaths I take. It's almost meditative, hypnotizing. I really never want to stop once I get started.

Today was one of those perfect days. If my hip flexors hadn't been giving me a hard time, I would have gone for another loop around the pond. You see, this week I headed out to Bedford as usual, ran the bikeway, but I took a turn when I hit Arlington. I veered out into Belmont, then down into Cambridge that way to bump into Fresh Pond directly for another loop. My intention had been a 13 miler, but I added over an extra mile with the pond loop, and stopped at Whole Foods for a piece of fruit (and quinoa, since its cheaper there than anywhere else). My pace was a steady 10:30 throughout the entire run. Not competitive, of course, but I like to keep my distance run easy as I built up. Save the tempo or speed runs for under 10 miles.

I'm already excited to get out again tomorrow. The weather was in the upper 30s, early 40s today. Perfect running weather in my opinion. I decided on my way home today, that I think that no matter what's happening in my life, as long as I can run, I will be happy. I don't ever want to live a life without running again. It filled a hole in my soul that I didn't even know was there.