Finally, A beautiful day.

This morning I woke up peacefully on a Sunday for the first time in a long time. Typically, I would wake up around 6:30am, put on a hoodie and rush to the lab beating myself up the whole way because I couldn't shake my negative attitude. Sundays HURT. It wouldn't be until around 1:00pm that I'd even consider changing my mind about how much Sundays sucked.
Today was different. I woke up later than planned but not too late to make it to a ride with Julie and Trish on the macomb orchard trail. I ate a bagel, chugged some coffee, chugged some water, filled a bottle with heed, another with water, grabbed a gel, clif bar and dressed in layers. I remembered my wool socks that Chris Goddard had suggested I purchase for colder rides. Oh man, THANK YOU CHRIS! We were bundled up because it was still freezing cold but we were excited about the good weather to come. Eric stopped by after his MTB ride with Corey and talked to us for a bit. It's pretty awesome to see how far we've all come within the last year. We kept an even pace and didn't really have a plan of how far we'd go. We followed a path that Dave Kutcher had told me and Andi about a year ago. We let people pass us and rode close enough to talk. It was peaceful. There was only one moment when we decided to chase down a group of guys and pass them "on your leeeft!" just to prove how awesome we were. Sometimes it's good to chase and pass. Since this route doesn't have ANY possible options for toliets, there was some peeing-behind-a-tree action going on. I won't say who to protect all parties involved. It was a great start to the day. We rode for 2 hours and 15 minutes (including the potty break) and did somewhere around 31 miles.

By the time we were done, the sun was BURSTING through the clouds and my old "don't waste a minute of sunshine" rule popped into my head. I drove home and planned to spend no longer than 10 minutes in my apartment. I murdered some lady bugs (I have a ladybug infestation in my bathroom. That's a whole 'nother post in itself) and got ready to run. Tank top, booty shorts, visor (yes, I wear visors now), iphone + headphones, garmin, newtons. I didn't have any clue how long I'd run, I just knew it wouldn't be longer than 2 hours because I brought zero nutrition or water. As I started my walk I added some buttkicks, knee huggers, and some awkward arm swinging that I thought was an official warmup but (as I look at my running book) it is not. After 5 minutes of walking and looking foolish, "what chu lookin' at foool?" I started to run. Sometimes running feels so...slow. It was so much more work than the bike ride we had done earlier and I was going no where. After mile one (buzzzz goes the garmin) I had my running legs back and I was holding a comfortable pace. I started to sweat and realized that it was a mistake to leave the water behind and be running aimlessly without any water destination. A few miles in I saw my buddy John Lauchlan riding a mountain bike with his son Frank (did i ever mention that I think parents riding bikes with their kids is THE COOLEST THING EVER?!). John gave me a much needed lauchlan-hug and asked how I was doing. (better now that I'm seeing you!). We parted ways and I'm pretty sure I awarded him points for knowning someone on the bike path. I award points to people... and gold stars (2 gold stars to anyone still reading this). It's probably not my place but I do it, and people love getting points and stars.
I kept running and soon decided that my shoes were getting in the way of my feet and the ground and decided to "kick off my shoes". Wondering why that's in quotes? It's on the front page of "the barefoot book" that I have been reading. I ran on the concrete for a mile with my pink newtons failing about in one hand and my iphone (supplying a great mix of Mumford & Sons and Linkin' Park...don't ask) in the other. It was felt GREAT to run free! I will admit- it hurt a little bit, my pace slowed, and I know people thought I was crazy, but I loved running naturally. Soon after seeing a few athletes that I knew from races I decided it was time to put the shoes back on because I didn't want word to get around that I had dove off the deep end. I ran into Metro Beach metropark and headed towards the drinking fountain that I had invented in my head. Upon discovering the missing drinking fountain that never existed I ran a little more to seek other options. For some reason all of the drinking fountains didn't have handles on them. I started to feel like the guy from 127 hours. Will I end up drinking my own pee from a camelback or nalgene bottle? I hope not. I looked across the way and saw another option. I was already at 5 or 6 miles at this point and i didn't want to head back until getting some damn h20 in me! All that was seperating me from fountain was grass and puddles. So, what did that crazy girl do? She took off her shoes, again, but this time, it made sense. I ran through puddles and mud and sticks and stones and made it to my water destination. I put my shoes back on to go into the public bathroom (my feet are learning to handle a lot but public bathroom floors is not on that list). I stuck my head under the faucet and drank like I had been stuck for 127 hours. When I came out of the bathroom, I took my shoes off again... because it felt right. I ran next to the bike path on the grass, in the puddles, over the sticks and stones and loved every minute of it. It was amazing. Nothing was hurting my feet and my running just became natural. My body+my feet+gravity= running. It was great to have it all come together like that! Yes, people were staring, but most just gave me a huge smile. A few asked, "hows the water" as I trudged through the puddles "GREAT!" I responded. For those that cared, most will probably think "crazy runner" but maybe one...just one will think, why DOOO we wear shoes? and consider kicking off their shoes too. I finished out my run with my shoes on and my form was different...good different. Yes, it's that simple, I fell asleep reading the barefoot book and woke up a frickin' hippie. I'm only 24 pages into it but it was nice to finally read something that told me to just do it. I've tried a few times before but never experienced it like this. Hot sun, puddles, grass between my toes, running...just to run. Amazing.

Before I got home I saw two boys kicking a bicycle. Immediately my BICYCLE ABUSE radar went off. I ran over to them and said, "stop, I can help, I used to work at a bike shop" as if I was some type of official bike wrench (as if I even knew what the hell to do with a bike!). The boy's back wheel wouldn't spin because his brakes were stuck shut. I helped them disconnect the back brake and get the chain back on (did that just happen? Did I just look like i knew something?). I made sure they were able to roll home and started the home stretch of my run. By the last mile I was covered in bike grease, mud, and leaves (yes, there was a leaf actually stuck to my calf) and I just smiled- this was a good run.
9.5 miles of adventures. ;D

Oh, and pretty sure my feet are gonna hurt like hell tomorrow but we'll see. Who needs 'em anyways!