wal-mart is frickin' cold!

miles today: 11.8

on the iPod: "next year" -- foo fighters

Sometimes a run is amazing. Perfect. Excellent. This morning was one of those really awesome runs. Everything fell into place to produce an overall high-end experience. Haven't enjoyed a run that much in months. They're never bad by any stretch of the imagination, but this one was close to divine. It was on lock.

Maybe it was the tunes on my iPod shuffle. Maybe it was starting 15 minutes earlier. Maybe it was the apparent drop in humidity. Maybe it was a higher power. Maybe it was the bag of Gu Chomps in my pocket. Maybe it was none of the above, but rather just a bad-ass morning to lace up and run like hell. Whatever it was, I was completely in the moment and relished that time. And I'm hoping for more. More like that on October 10th would be really hip. Just sayin'...

Wanting to up my mileage, I started at the Old Missouri Road trailhead, as opposed to Starbucks, and did an out-and-back to Maple Street. For the second week in a row I veered off the trail and hit Gregg street for a bit in an effort to avoid the creeper tunnel under the highway. Which is a good thing because I'm relatively certain it was closed anyway because of standing water. There were multiple spots that showed extensive movement from all the rain. It was interesting to see where the water had made temporary paths due to force. Wow.

Upon return, my truck wouldn't start. Damnit. I had a similar issue a few days earlier so wasn't surprised. There were some other local runners hangin' around that immediately offered jumps and rides. I appreciate those guys and will thank them the next time I see 'em on the trails. Alas, Don Puckett was a short cell phone call away to jump me. Got my truck to Wal-Mart only to find out that my battery was indeed on it's last leg and needed to be replaced.

At this point my legs are a little bit worn out and I'm soaked in sweat. Really. Like bad soaked. Tech gear head to toe that is drenched in my own funk. Not comfortable. At all. I had no choice but to wait it out in my own filth while my battery was replaced. About five minutes into the wait I realize that Wal-Mart must keep the stores at a pleasant 68 degrees, because I was cold. Ten minutes later, I'm really cold. Twenty minutes later I'm considering buying clothes and dumping all the sweaty tech gear. Thirty minutes later i'm cursing.

The fine folks at Wal-Mart, however, got me in and out relatively soon thereafter and I now have a battery that works. Win! Next long run will be in Grant Park. Can't wait. Hope to see some of the course.