this one time at...running camp

the alarm blasts in my ear at 4:30am. even bailey isn't ready to get up. she sighs and rolls over.

before i think about it too much i put my feet on the ground and get up and throw on some running clothes that may or may not match. hopefully none are inside out.

i ate no less than my weight in desserts last night but somehow my stomach still grumbles so i grab a chocolate granola bar. the thought crosses my mind that i might have a chocolate addiction, but it's 4:30am...i'll eat what i want.

i walk the dog, it's dark and creepy out but i see a shooting star. maybe this is a good sign.

i get in my car and head off to running camp. i'm disappointed to discover that the lack of sun does not equal lack of heat. and the humidity? i might as well go for a swim. we do a slow warm up run as my friends chat around me. i try to keep up, unsure how i'll make it through the rest of the workout.  

but i persevere.

i remember that line from fast and furious about living life one quarter mile at a time. today i will live it in half miles. i will run and i will breathe and i will work hard. (and then i'll have more chocolate).

somehow the six daunting intervals pass by, each at goal pace. they hurt, but in a way that feels good. it feels good to push myself. it feels good to see it pay off every three minutes and fifty five seconds. it's good to focus on a pace and the distance between cones instead of anything and everything else.

i leave much happier than i came (and much soggier).

back in my car, one republic is on the radio singing that "sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now...but please tell me what there is to complain about?"and i think this lyric couldn't be more appropriate to my life if i wrote it myself.

i turn the music up and sing horribly off key, "oh, this has gotta be the good life, this has gotta be the good life, this could really be a good life, good life!"

today is off to a good start. and this life? it can be oh so good if you just take it one half mile at a time.

*(it should be noted that this one republic song is used in disney advertising, which for me is equivalent to having my cake and eating it too).