Day 23 - Into the Mystic

I could just kiss Kelly Clarkson. Well, that may be a little much but I really was glad she was part of my life tonight. I had made up my mind last night after writing my story that tonight was going to be a good run, and it was. If this was figure skating, I would have cleared the compulsory competition with a 9.8.  It would be higher but I would have a phobia about being downgraded by the Russian judge and probably by the Luxembourg judge due to some awful things I may have said in my youth about Luxembourg when I first learned about the tiny country in third grade.  Kelly Clarkson got me over any running fears with her song, "Stronger."  I was suppose to go 8 but I figured I owed the program one for yesterday morning.  I also owed myself a better performance.  At three miles tonight I got loose.  Real loose.  I decided to take a left into Silver Springs Park in Stow instead of a right on the trail to Hudson Rd. north of Kent.  I went into the park and ran by the baseball fields and into the woods where the high school cross country races are held. I had never been up on those trails.  It was great traversing the wooded trails.  I came out of the woods and ran on the fields in the park and eventually found my way back out the way I came into the park.  Then I headed toward Hudson Road which is the direction I usually go.   I got to the precise turnaround point on the trail I needed in order to make it nine miles tonight.  The fun began the last four miles.  The cadence and rhythm of my stride picked up.  I was feeling it.  In just that moment, the music in my head was Kelly's, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger..." I got a little bit faster and a little bit stronger.  I figured, "What the heck." I pushed harder.  Okay sports fans, let's put this in perspective.  We are talking about a guy who has been living in the thirteen to fourteen minute per mile range on long runs now "punching it at around 11:30 per mile.  It's still slow but its all mine.  With about 1.8 miles left there is a series of hills on the trail. Long term there is speed in those hills. For now, I just wanted to get up those suckers.  Boy did I ever.  How great was it that when it came time to approach the final and steepest hill, the Michael McDonald song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," began to play?  I had to smile, my youngest son Alex mocks the heck out McDonald who I love and imitates Michael's vocal style much to the amusement of everyone else except his dad.  As I got within a quarter mile of the house the song "Into the Mystic," the cover version by Michael McDonald, came on.  I finished and then after the run I was basking in the glow of my best effort on a longer run in a long time.  I sat out on the back deck with sweat pouring off of me as I drank some ice water.  The feeling of accomplishment grew as the words of the song played.  The words by Van Morrison the writer and original performer of the song toward the end meant something more to me tonight than ever before:

"And I want to rock your gypsy soul

 Just like way back in the days of old

Then magnificently we will float into the mystic"

I looked over at the Boss on the other side of the deck and without taking my headphones off.  I just said, "I nailed it tonight."  She smiled and then I turned away I looked down at the deck below my chair. Everything was covered with moisture supplied by me.  I closed my eyes to relive the key moments of the run.  I thought of the nights in Wapakoneta when I was faster and had nights like this.  Then I was done for now but there's so much more do.  But for now, I think I will just float into the mystic and get a good night's sleep.  I should do something about the Russian and Luxembourg judges before they become problems.  Anybody have Tonya Harding's phone number? On second thought, I don't need her. The Kid is on a roll. I'm stronger and I'm sailing intro the mystic. It's where I want to be.