Running for Fun?

Have you ever had one of those moments where you believe there is a higher power trying give you a hint, or two, maybe three?

For some cosmic reason, the most mundane day all of sudden because a day that you can't forget? A day that you capture a feeling of awe, wonder, and happiness? It is the type of feeling that you want bottle up, and be able to use it for a long time.

I think I had one of those days yesterday in my life.

Basically, I'm being told to have fun and pursue happiness.

Here is how the "everyday" day started. I got up early. Ate a good breakfast. Arrived at work at 6:15 am. I sent some emails, had a couple of meetings, and did some work. Around 11 am, I set out on a 7 mile run with John. The run itself was a planned tough hill run through the bowels of Des Moines -not just hills, but monster hills on route affectionately known as "Pain". This is pretty much a normal day for me.

However - I received my first hint from John. Our run was dominated by our usual discussion of, well, running. But for one moment today we strayed a bit. John talked of someone he knows who, until a couple weeks ago, was a regular guy middle aged man. But then a blood vessel burst in his head. He is now in a coma and his family and friends do not know what type of quality of life he'll have. I hope and pray for him and his family that all turns out well. It did make me remember as many others have often said - you never really know what is going to happen from one day to the next. Enjoy the day you have.

The rest of the run was not mundane. I let myself enjoy the monster hills. I enjoyed being outside, feeling the warm air as it melted away the snow. I enjoyed the company of a wise soul on the run. I smiled and I was happy.

I wanted to continue this feeling through the rest of day. I came back to work - Emails, phone calls, meetings - falling back into the routine - I was thinking - I must try and hold on to that happiness feeling!! Okay, forge ahead.

I headed out from work to pick up the boys. Shoot - forgot to tell my boss to have fun on her vacation. Called her from the car and said - "Have fun!" Okay - before today, I wouldn't have called back into the office, but today was different and I wanted to keep that feeling. I'm sure my boss thinks I was out of mind for calling her and telling her to have a nice time on her vacation.

I picked up the boys from school. My youngest, a small 4 year old, was bundled up in twice his weight with snow pants, overstuffed coat, hat pulled down so he could only see out of one eye, and soaking wet mittens. Just the way you want to pick up a kid in a nice clean car. He was also wearing a great smile on his face. Mundane day - treasure the young smiles. (hint #2)

I pulled up to the driveway and boys wanted to play outside immediately. I also had a couple of loose end emails to finish up on the BlackBerry. I let them out of the car and texted my responses. I looked in my rear view mirror - an unexpected visit from my nephews and two of wife's sisters!

The house was a mess, I had a list of items I wanted to get done. My kids are laughing and the only thing you can think about is cleaning off the driveway??? Those can wait - enjoy the moment I reminded myself.

The UPS driver pulled up and delivered THE book. Okay, not the bible, but subtle hint #3 that really may not be that subtle. I knew my wife ordered a couple of items from Amazon.com, but I didn't expect them to come yesterday. I opened them up. There sitting in front of me was the book - "The Happiness Project". I picked it up and browsed through it. I read a little bit of the story and realized this was me. The author mentions "The days are long, the years are short" Her epiphany was on a bus ride. Mine was on a run - a run that I have been on a hundred times.

As I read the book - I'll try to see what I can do as a trail runner to make running and life for me fun. If it is okay with you, I'll report back. Consider this the first day of an experiment for me.

1/12 - 5.25 miles with 10 minutes at Race pace (6:55).
1/13 - 7 miles - hills - and a fabulous run
YTD - 63.95 miles