Falling makes me faster

It's been a bit of a rocky year.  For the first time since I was 13 years old, I'm not working and it feels like my identity as "type A career woman" is rocked.  I say feels to be precise, because the reality is, I'm still me but better and continuing to learn.  I get the chance for a fresh start which is kind of rare.  More specifically, I get to run as long as I want, swim as long as I want (OK, don't really want to, but am trying to learn to love), do yoga often, and squeeze in grown up things like exploring starting a company and networking.

Today's run had me thinking of my restart, where I've fallen, and how lucky I am to get to learn from tumbles.  Today I ran listening to Deena Kastor's new book "Let Your Mind Run" and the irony is not lost on my that my mind was totally running right along with my legs.  In the book Deena discusses her high school track coach Bill and how she got into running.

My high school track coach was also Bill, and he changed my life forever.  Speaking of tumbles, one of my favorite high school track memories was getting pushed down in a 2 mile race.  A girl pushed me on a turn and stepped on my hand to add insult to the push.  I got up and proceeded to lap her, say "thanks" while passing her, and then win - but still of course cry about it and complain afterwards.

 During my run today I kept thinking about the notion of getting knocked down and getting up again (then I'd mentally toggle to a song from the 90s about this).  Another irony was at a point in the book where Deena was talking about mental toughness and overcoming setbacks, I literally fell on the stairs going up to Queen Anne.  No worries, though, my mental toughness kicked in and so did my stride to finish out a good 16 mile run.

For a mini run report, the scenery was pretty perfect today too.  I ran from Queen Anne to Green Lake, looped the zoo and the lake, then ran around Lake Union.  Just before climbing the stairs to go up Queen Anne, I ran (heh, pun intended) across a family of geese where new life was literally growing ... and eating poop ... and growing.

At mile 15.92 I was DONE, but I couldn't bring myself to end so shy of a round mile, so I jammed up a hill to get 16.