Good News - Bad News Run

Saturday morning was cool and wanting to rain.
I wore my rain cap for the first half mile of the six-mile ho-down but it proved to be too hot.
And it was not raining.
But the clouds looked like they wanted to. (in fact, it did rain in other parts of town)

Usually, by the first half mile I can tell how I am going to do on these longer runs, and it was true this day.
I did not feel as weak as I have in the past, but I did not feel "strong" (a very relative term for me).
So I prepared myself mentally to have to walk sometime in the last half of the party.
And it was so.

Early into mile six, I felt I needed to stop for a minute or two and walk.
There was not a lot of argument between Coach, Runner and Running Central.
Runner did not want to, but mostly for self-esteem reasons.
Coach knew how hard Runner was working.
Running Central was monitoring the situation silently.
This was a close call.
If this had been a race, I would not have stopped.
But it wasn't, so I did.

The walk worked as planned.
I finished the last mile or so with nothing out of the ordinary.
But I was glad to be finished with this one.
That is the bad news. (not so bad, really.)

There were a lot of runners out that morning.
I thought it might be because of some organized practice for the Cotton Row race coming in two weeks.
Not.
At least, not entirely.
It turns out there was a race that morning.
The I Love Music race, or some such.
That is a new one here.
And as I finished my six-mile jaunt, I saw a hundred runners passing one block away.

The good news?
Nothing broke.
Again.
No hip, knee, ankle joint issues.
No connective tissue issues - tendons, ligaments, muscles, etc.
There was some vague whinings around mile four from left knee and right hip support tissues about how hard life is, but these mumblings were drowned out by the chirping of the birds and my accelerated breathing.
Amazing.

Life is good.
Very good.
.