Running Sans Scrappy

Away from home, the dog is in the kennel. I used to feel bad about kenneling the dog when we went away, but Scrappy actually seems to like it. I think it really is like doggy camp for him. He gets to hang around other dogs, pee in lots of new spots. Maybe it's reminiscent of his former life, the one where he gnawed off all his front teeth bored to tears locked away all day... Although I don't think he gnaws anymore, so he's at least gotten past that part of it. I guess just imagining he's having an okay time makes it easier for me to leave him there and go on and enjoy some time away from him. Is this like having a child?

I woke up at exactly 6:00am, and by 6:30 was out of bed and getting suited up for my run. I know now that I have crossed that line of making myself run to needing to run. No dog. On vacation. I still wake up and WANT to run. It was even raining this morning, and I heard myself making excuses why to run instead of why not to run: It's not raining that hard. It will be raining harder later if I don't go now. It's at least warm enough out to rain, so it will be warmer to run. Etc. It was at that moment I knew I was in the need to run zone.

I didn't run for long. Only about 25 minutes. I slipped several times, but never fell on my butt. That was the guidepost: if I slipped and fell on my butt, I was going to call it quits. But I never fell. It became my challenge of the morning, to stay alert of the ice patches forming under the rain, yet relaxed enough to enjoy the run. Tense enough to keep upright, yet loose enough to do the same. I found my center, just below the navel, breathed into it, loosened my shoulders, loosened my neck, then my right leg shot out from under me and I did some kind of hillbilly pirouette on my left foot while violently jerking my torso first to the left, overcompensating, slipping further, then jerking to the right. Taa-daa! A perfect 10 point moron out running on the ice in the rain. I would like to blame the dog for this, but clearly, I'm on my own.