post the fifty-first, 2013

there are a million reasons not to go.

well, maybe not a million, per se, but you know. plenty. plenty of reasons. it's getting late. i want lunch. it's raining. but for some reason, i just want to go. so, i get changed and outside and look at my garmin, and it's on 0 power. great, i think. of all the days to be without a watch. i shut it off, planning to only use it at the track. i hope it will hang in there for the workout.

i get there and there's one guy already on the track. i'm oddly relieved to not be alone, although it's not like we're together.

i remove my hat and short-sleeve shirt and tuck them under the bleachers to hopefully keep them somewhat dry. i am fixing to get started when he slows for a recovery, so i am like, what pace are you trying to hit. he's like, 6, and so i am like, haha forget it then.

i do the first 800 in 3:45, which is just a touch quick but i am happy with it. the wind is pretty fierce on the backstretch, so i decide to take my recovery where i am. sorry, coach, that's just how it was today--there was no way to recover in a wind like that. so i get my breath back and whatnot, start and stop the watch to get it on 4:00, and then start it and take off. about halfway through the first 400, the watch shuts off completely. well, that's just great. reason #856 to quit this workout. but, for some reason, i don't want to.

i finish the second 800 and the third, just trying to match the effort from the first one, the 3:45. that guy is still here, sort of all over the place really. we end up at recovery together and he's like, what workout are you doing? and i go, 7 by 800 trying to hit 8 min pace but i don't know... my watch died. i go, what about you, you are all over the track? he's like, i am not a distance runner. and then he explains a pyramid workout that i don't really follow and i am like, that's cool, that's cool. he says it again, i am not a distance runner. is he trying to apologize or something? i feel like saying, well neither am i - i am just a doofus out here jogging in the rain.

i do the fourth 800 and i am really getting warm, so i come out of the long sleeve and pull the short from under the bleachers and put it on. that guy is still here, changed to going clockwise, right now he's on the far side of the track. i do the fifth 800, and he's where i am again, so i go, is the wind any better that way - haha... (see, it's an OVAL so you're always going to be facing the wind at some point.) he laughs. he goes, yeah i think it's worst in this corner. i am like, yeah. he goes, you are looking strong. i am like, hey thanks man - you too. he carries on with his workout.

i finish the sixth 800 and then finally the seventh, and it's like a party in my brain, so happy. i dig out the long sleeve, hat, watch (i'd ditched it when i changed shirts) from under the bleachers. everything's damp but not soaked. my arms are cold and wet, my fingers aren't cooperating. the temp has dropped, i think. i struggle to get the long sleeve back on, strap the dead watch to my left arm, the hat's pretty dry on the inside, thank goodness.

i sort of stall and wait for him to lap around again, and i wave and go, bye, and he goes, have a nice rest of the day! and he smiles. hell, he's been smiling the entire time. if i didn't know better, i'd say he's enjoying this.

as i am jogging off, headed back to the office, i think maybe i should have gotten his name, but then i am like, nah, who cares. we were just two runners sharing a track in miserable conditions, doing our workouts. names don't matter. that's how it is sometimes, when you are a runner.