Rebirth

I'm in a running group, and we meet every Wednesday to do intervals. If you're not sure what an interval is, you run a short distance very hard, until you're close to puking, and then you do it again and again. It's funny how five two-minute runs can make you much faster than running for 45 minutes, but it works wonders.

Last night we ran the mile to gauge our progress. Despite being coughy and kinda sick for two weeks, I managed to run 6:16, which is my best time ever in the mile. I once ran 6:20 when I was in the eighth grade. That was more than 20 years ago.
I'm very proud of the time.

I don't know if I'm in the best shape of my life, but I'm learning how to push past the pain and, yes, even agony, of running really hard for minutes or miles at a time. I'm learning that it's OK to run along the margin, even if you're close to falling off (or puking on it).

I'm leading my 14ers group up Elbert, Colorado's tallest mountain. It's a long, hard, steep day, though it's also easy, in the sense that a dirt trail leads all the way to the summit.

I hope that this time the group starts to push its own margins as we slowly make our way up Saturday.