They say that God takes care of drunks and fools and children

Last Sunday, I had the running equivalent of The Perfect Storm. Well, except I mean that in a good way like everything conspires to make something sublime. Although, I guess to a weather geek the perfect storm is good in a fascinating way because he's so single-minded that he doesn't concern himself with loss of human life. Anyway, if you're a runner, you know what I'm talking about, don't you? These runs sneak up on you. It's not necessarily idyllic conditions and you're not necessarily at your most rested. And cold leftover Ma Po Tofu, though delicious, can hardly be considered the ideal pre-run breakfast (or maybe it can!). I was at a continuing education seminar in Columbus last weekend and I woke up Sunday morning feeling kind of agitated. I wasn't happy with the way things were going in class and I knew I had five hours to go in that frigid conference room. I decided to lace up the sneaks and see if I could pound out some inner calm. I set the Nike+ device for 10K and I cued up the Freakbeats mix on the Nano. And within minutes my troubles were lost. Call it "the zone" or maybe I was on some other plane of existence, whatever, but it was effortless and it was over before I knew it. And for me, the pace was actually crazy. I'm sure there are those reading who go much faster, but for a Sunday morning run, this was serious and surprising business for me. Just what the doctor ordered, too. Got me through the rest of that day and also has me believing that, just maybe I can run my age in that 10K race I'm doing in October.

ADDED: Lest this come off as too self-congratulatory (recognizing it is the first step, right Andrew?), I should mention that only days after the perfect run, I had the swirling vortex of suck. Last night my legs were tired (it felt like running through mud), the air was too thick and humid to breathe, and I had a steadily worsening headache for three miles. And I was slow. And wanted to walk. And audibly whined, possibly to the consternation of passersby. I think an elderly couple and their three-legged dog did pass me by at one point. You gotta love it, the running, cuz it's not all sunshine and pussycats.