Run 4

This morning, after posting my third straight beer entry, I decided that this blog was getting dangerously one sided. So even though I woke up this morning feeling like the last thing I wanted to do this morning was run, I did anyways.

This morning's run was pretty brutal, but that's probably more due to the fact that it's been a little while since my last run than anything else. This was probably the first run since I started this blog in which I didn't really get a runner's high until the run was over. Still, a few things happened that kept me running.

The first came right off the bat. As I was running down the first hill, I noticed a guy wearing a hat walking down the sidewalk. His back was to me, but as I came up behind him, he turned and looked at me like he was making sure I wasn't about to stab him. I almost stopped dead in my tracks because the guy looked exactly like Stephen King. It was creepy as hell. I almost wanted to stop and stay behind the guy just because you really don't want to be running knowing that a guy who looks like Stephen King is behind you. Finally, I decided to just go for it, but to run faster than I thought this guy could possibly go if he decided to try anything shady. I sprinted by him without looking back and didn't slow down until I was sure he was nowhere near me.

The second thing that happened came about half a mile later. And really, if nothing else, this made it really clear to me that I may have been focusing on beer a little too much the last few days. I was coming up the hill next to UTC (the mall near our place) when I smelled it- hops. I don't know where the smell came from (and I don't even think it was hops), but I was convinced that there were hops nearby. Suddenly, I was thinking about IPAs instead of cramps. While this ultimately took my mind off of the running, which is a good thing, I think if nothing else, it showed me that I need to get running more.

The run wasn't pretty but somehow, I finished it 20 seconds faster than I did last week. Really, I think there's only one thing I can say after a run like this: Thank you Stephen King.