Pain and the Mighty Yelp!

So today started early enough. Oddly, I haven't found it that hard to get out of bed in the morning. I guess going to bed at 10:30 actually makes you less tired in the morning. The wife and I had our mini-golf league last night, complete with at least two dozen Happy Gilmore references. I ended the evening with a Double Cheeseburger and snickers Ice Cream bar from a local bar. This probably wasn't very healthy, but it sure did taste good.

Resolved: Cheeseburgers are delicious, addicting, and are the single greatest threat against my quest to loose weight.

Anyway, this morning was a good run. I only stopped twice, though I did pseudo-stop twice to take pictures. Eventually I'll learn how to add them to this and do so. It was a rainy morning and I stepped in more then one puddle on the run. Thank the gods of technical socks that wick the water away. My feet were dry within two minutes. I almost didn't go this morning, but figured I'd rather be batting 1000% rather then 500%. So, I crawled out of bed, through on some shorts and a shirt, and hit the road.

Tangent: Oddly enough to seems to take me exactly 7 minutes to get dressed and get outside. Strange.

So I've come to the conclusion that I'm not a great runner. I'm an OK runner. But, what I am good at is willpower. My wife, and formerly my mother, called it stubbornness. I call bull-shit on that though, its willpower damn it! I rarely refuse to admit I'm beaten, especially in some sort of sporting event. We play in a yearly state basketball tournament and routinely get crushed 100-65 or so. The more down we get, the harder and faster I play, up to the last seconds. I won't go down without a fight. How does this apply to running you say?


Resolved: The Mighty Yelp can save you.

You know those moments when you are about to die? You are about to fall down, stop, throw in the towel and call it quits? Yea, we've all been there no matter what distance we're running. I'm not talking about "The Wall" when you've been running for hours, but about the little hurtles, let's call them "Midget Walls". The points were, as Green Day would say, "Does the pain weigh out the pride?" Yea, you know what I'm talking about. Well, its at that moment I let myself enjoy a mighty yelp! A primal, gurgling scream / yell that rumbles from my inner being, resonates through my stomach, builds as it spills down my throat, only to below forth in a mixture of elation-pain-joy-anger. Done correctly, it is followed by a rush of endorphins that washes away all pain and makes life... amazing. It is primarily the reason that I run, well, that and I'm sick of being fat.

It's the same feeling you get when everything is right with the world, the perfect song plays at the perfect moment in life, or the sun hits the water at an amazing angle as a perfect, calm breeze caresses your face. When I was young they told me it was the Holy Spirit. I've moved past such things though. To me its life in perfect harmony. A chemical response to a sight, sound, or smell coupled with the perfect emotional state. It's amazing. So, next time you are out and The Midget Wall is kicking your shins, try a Yelp! Don't worry, those people that turn to stare at you are just impressed by your mental fortitude and good looks!

Until tomorrow, trying to be honest with myself and the rest of the world.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011.

Time out: 6:07; Time in: 6:44

Distance: 2.82 miles

Walked: 2 times

Inhaler use: 2

Songs Listened to:

Lost, but I do remember Debby Gibson's, "Heaven is a place on Earth" at the end of the run.