I made the commitment this morning to go for a long run. Having only run my long route once since I began training (and that was back in May), I decided that it was time to put in the miles in preparation for Saturday.

The long run consists of taking that Decoro hill route and combining it with my standard route that takes me down the bike path and around the neighborhood. Today, because the traffic lights weren't cooperating, I opted to begin my run in reverse, heading down Bouquet to the bike path and then tackling the hill in the end. This proved to be a smart decision.

I wound up running with traffic for m90% of the run. By not having to run against the crosswind of cars passing me, I was able to concentrate on my goal. I also decided to run at the 5/2 pace I've been doing on the Saturday long runs. This was also a good decision. My legs were strong enough that by the end I was able to switch to a 5/1 for the last couple miles.

I can't tell you how awesome I felt at the end of this run. I was even able to jog part of the way home.

My mind was clear for most of the run. I believe that I have been able to place the fundraising fears behind me completely and concentrate fully on just my running. Yesterday I also began writing out some scenes to a new script I want to begin writing within the next couple of weeks. While the material is a little darker (at least it was yesterday... more on that momentarily), I'm excited to have that itch to start writing about characters I find interesting. Like I mentioned, yesterday the story was very dark. And I was a little worried about that because I tend to write about subjects that have some sort of life affirming outcome.

And after I received a nice email from Denman yesterday, I was waffling on whether I should keep pursuing this story. But then this morning, by really letting my mind wander on the run, I decided that there are life-affirming elements about this story and the characters I want to write about. So now I'm really jazzed to pursue this new story.

Either that or the coffee I just downed is playing tricks on my mind.

We'll see where this story goes. I'm not sure how long it will take me to write the first draft, hopefully not as long as it is taking me to complete "East of Eden". My God! Could I read any slower?

Aloha