Running in the rain

It rained most of the night - at least I think it did.  I remember thinking about where I was going to run in the middle of the night and woke up knowing that I was headed to the Garden instead of muddy Palmer Park.  It was a good choice - not only because Syd and I weren't muddy when we were done, but because the Garden was a magical place this morning.  

The stunning rock formations were sometimes visible and sometimes not.  At times they appeared as if they were hidden behind a gauze curtain.  I never did see the kissing camels.  As the sun rose, the fog seemed to hunker down.  So many times along the run I wanted to capture the images on the camera I didn't have with me.  I thought I'd take a photo with my phone when I was done.  Not so.  The fog sunk low and the rocks were nearly hidden.  They were moments meant only for Syd and I to experience, to try and capture in our eternal memory rather than on film.

The Garden is one of my favorite places, in part, I think because I will always remember the first few times I ran there.  The Garden had the upper hand.  It was rare that I could climb any of the hills at a pace faster than a walk.  It humbled me every time I went.  And yet I kept going back.  Who feels pain surrounded by that kind of physical beauty?  

I don't remember the first time I was able to run all the hills in the Garden.  But now it's a different kind of challenge.  I push myself to my physical limits often when I am in the Garden.  I run every hill.  The Garden is the place I learned to attack hills and to run past the crest of the hill - no matter how badly I want to stop once I reach the crest.  

And it is the place that I ran a 10 mile race recently and didn't push myself.  I just ran.  All the hills.  I finished in a respectable time, but I didn't really worry about my time.  I just had fun.  Nothing at stake.  Nothing to prove to anyone, not even myself.  Just a 10 mile run in the Garden, under overcast skies, with the sun peeking out occasionally and the high school aid station welcoming me to heaven - twice.  They couldn't have chosen a more perfect theme.  They couldn't have been more right about the place we were.