Monday, July 26, 2010

Perfect Moment - Finding My Stride

Last week my pal A. said she needed a run buddy for Saturday morning and asked if I'd like to join her. I said, maybe. Because I'm like that, and also because running for me has always been a solitary kind of thing. Earphones on. Route chosen for minimal interaction with people. I couldn't imagine having to adjust to the pace of someone next to me, or worse yet, struggle to keep up.

Saturday morning arrived and A. and I were texting each other from under the covers. You up? Barely. We going? I dunno. You want to? It's kind of hot. Yeah. Should we postpone? Screw it, let's go. Ok. Be there in 5.

And off we went. Chatting the whole way. About half way to the trees, A. wondered if we were really going as slow as it seemed. So we picked up the pace. A little. Because it was indeed turning out to be a scorcher. We stopped to say hi to the trees, a place A. had never known existed until that morning, and headed back. Still talking. Talking and walking - wow! I can do it. And we made it home in a pretty decent time.

While a pleasant morning spent with a friend might seem like no big deal, nice but no cause for a moment of reflection, it kind of is. Our morning signaled to me that my running is evolving from survival mode, a coping mechanism, a task to be accomplished alone with my own thoughts into something that can be social, can be fun, can be shared. And that feels like a perfect moment.

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And while we're on the subject, I just have to share a Perfect Moment that I neglected to post last week:

You know M. playfully says that when I run its like watching someone try to wade through molasses, right? Well, last week, as we were heading across the country on a whim for a weekend trip to see his favorite sports team evah (thank you, frequent flier miles and price.line), we found ourselves in the Detroit airport with just 20 minutes to get from the tip of Coucourse C to the opposite end of Concourse A before plane doors closed and we missed the only available connection to our destination that day.

Through tunnels, up escalators, down looooong halls with people movers jammed with people.

And guess who made it to the gate without breaking a sweat? And guess who arrived panting? Aw yeah. Now if that's not a perfect moment, I'm not sure what is.

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Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between. Go visit Lori from Weebles Wobblog, founder of Perfect Moment Mondays to read where she and others found their moments this week.

8 comments:

Silver said...

You have my admiration, as someone who puffs climbing the two flights of stairs to my flat and breaks into a sweat just THINKING of running! You make it sound a very cathartic experience, running - I hope the social side continues to develop (though there's nothing wrong with a bit of alone time!).

Lori Lavender Luz said...

You showed him!

I love the evolution of your run. And that you shared The Trees with your friend.

jill said...

Yay for running with friends. I think I'd probably like to get some runs in alone to see how it's different but I would never change running with my sister. It's awesome to have that time to talk together and cheer for each other :)

Haha @ your husband in the airport story. Woohoo!

Sheri said...

I loved hearing about both of your perfect moments!

I smiled about the texting under the covers. My sistah/friend and I did that on Sunday about yoga...and ended up going with about 5 minutes to get ready.

Spontaneous and fun!

Thanks for sharing your Perfect Moment(s)!

-- visiting from Weebles Wobblog.

Anonymous said...

the same thing happened to me recently. I too like to walk by myself. A neighbor asked if i ever wanted to go together and normally i would have said no but I am looking forward to getting to know her.

ezra'smommy said...

Love your perfect moments...and super impressed with all your running.

Anonymous said...

I love this post. I've been thinking of it since I first read it yesterday - I love the sense of peace and perspective. I'm so glad you got that moment with your friend.

dana said...

thinking about y'all and hope you're doing well.

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