Runner's World

My mp3 player starts to play Train's Brand New Book. One gray/pink New Balance sneaker hits the sidewalk, then the other, and they take turns moving me down the street. "Today I'm going to have a good run. Feelin' good, jammin' out". Rolling along, I see a walker coming toward me and I tense up. Oh no, I have to keep going so she doesn't think I'm an amateur. That's when I suddenly get shin splints. "It's all in your head." I sprint by her and stick my chest out. Braggart. 


I must pass the point where I pooped out running the other day. I can see it up ahead and it appears about 10 miles away. I finally reach it and then make myself focus on the next mailbox. Go, go, go. One mailbox, two mailbox. I stop at the one with the golf bag flag.


Time to walk. I run into the walking lady again who is now in front of me. I pump my arms and cross the street so I can pass her without seeming rude. The minute I pass her I begin running again. She can't think I'm an amateur. Eddie Rabbit's I Love a Rainy Night (stop laughing) gets me past the elementary and around the turn to the big hill. "Run to log on the left-hand side of the road and you can stop." 


I huff and puff to the top with school buses nudging me into the grass and stones. I see the same large bolt I saw on my last run. Then I come to the big, busy road. Have to show I'm a runner, so I start sprinting as cars whiz by me. "I wonder what it would feel like if I got hit. How far would I fly?" 


All the time I've been running/walking, my shins have been on fire. I'm bummed because I could completely run this route in good time last fall. Stupid belly fat. Run five steps. Hike down shirt. Run three steps. Hike down shirt.


I run past several holes of a golf course and think that looks like more fun than running. I see an older lady using a walking, gingerly moving along the sidewalk as if she's walking for the first time. I feel guilty for even walking past her. As I end my run, one of my favorite running songs comes on: Stand by Rascall Flatts. 


You feel like a candle in a hurricane
Just like a picture with a broken frame
Alone and helpless, like you've lost your fight
But you'll be alright, you'll be alright

Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend ?til you break
Cause it's all you can take

On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand, then you stand


The next time I lace up my sneaks and pop in my earbuds, I'm going to blow past that mailbox with the golf bag flag ... and just run.