i didn't think it would go that way.

i got up at 7 saturday morning to eat breakfast in anticipation of a 9am run. it began to rain aroudn quarter to 9. and then it started raining harder. and the forecast called for rain all day, with strong storms in the after.

forget it. i'm running on sunday, and i'm going to eat some more.

a half hour later the rains started to let up, and it was sunny by noon. and the sun stayed all day. so i changed my afternoon plans and ran. i started around 4:30, and it took me 1:29:05 to run this path:


it is 8.8 miles long, and i had to walk for 10 minutes at 5.25 miles due to some knee pain. my first mile was in 9 minutes, which is a full minute faster than i had expected to run, but a pace which was largely sustainable, considering i was able to finish 9 miles in 90 minutes including 10 minutes of walking.

the weird thing was that while i was finishing my run, i saw a girl i had gone to high school with and hadn't seen or really thought about since. she and her sister were walking their dad's dog. we ended up walking nearly a mile back to 30th street and back together, just catching up. it must have been quite some time, because my dad had gone out in the car to look for me and make sure i wasn't writhing in pain along the path.

i apologized profusely, appreciative for his concern and active pursuit of my health and safety. he commented again that when he gave me water (around 4 miles) i looked very much in control with my effort and breathing, so he didn't expect me to be injured.

despite having to walk, i am very optimistic. i ran well faster than i had expected, and it seems running longer distances, for me, is simply a matter of doing. i have never run 9 miles before, but i didn't feel any worse after 9 miles than i do after 6 miles. what i am reading seems to indicate this is how it should be up to 20 miles. so that is good to see correlation.

*****

i got home to a voicemail from my guitar player saying he wanted to talk about some "band shit." i could guess what that meant. i called him back and he informed me that i was being dismissed from the band. it wasn't because i wasn't a good enough player, or that i was a bad person, but just that i wasn't fitting in with the band socially as well as they would have liked. apparently there have been some awkward moments that are just no acceptable.

i can trace it to three things. back in march they finally figured out that i don't drink alcohol. it wasn't a big deal, but i can see how that can add up over time. more recently, after i returned from amsterdam, i had mentioned that i was there, and when asked why, i said it was a service trip with church. i never actually used the word, "mission," but apparently they got the point. and i think justifying event was the last rehearsal that i was at. i hadn't gotten enough sleep over the weekend, i had had a long day at work, and practice started later than usual. it was nearing midnight and i was really exhausted. i was falling asleep during intervals between playing, and i wasn't very active while playing.

i was disappointed, but i wasn't entirely surprised.

robb.