The Great Escape...

199 days
45 minutes

I managed 40 minutes on Monday and Tuesday and took yesterday off. My runs seemed to control me, not the other way around. Today's run was in the back of my head all day long. I needed an "escape" and it couldn't come fast enough. I still have that sense of doubt and anxiety when I lace up. Will I run well today? How far will I make it? Why did I get off track in the first place? But today I was ready to just hit the trail.

Health care Reform, sleazy political agendas, and overused talking points from both sides of the aisle seems to be all that people are watching, hearing, and regurgitating. I am so over this debate.

This is why I could not wait to turn my pink iPod shuffle (in honor of my Mom)up as loud as I could stand it and RUN. I felt strong, I felt like I was back. Last week my runs seemed to be in my chest. Not today, I was running from my core and using my legs to pick up the pace. It was nice to let my mind go.

Ironically, it went straight to the very thing I was escaping, but I managed to squeeze some clarity out along with the sweat.

The clarity: Your talking points will never convince me that the new law will not impact people like my mom in a positive way? Is it the best...I don't know...but it is better than what we have now and that is all that matters. My Mom has been fighting cancer for two and a half years. The impact physically, mentally, and economically would make you want to run the Chicago Marathon everyday of your life if it meant not having to face what this woman has had to face. Thank God she is successful. Thank God she has options. Thank God she is not so many other women out there who do not have the resources, including insurance, to fight this son of a bitch we know as cancer. Thank God.

I needed this run today. I needed this escape. I needed this clarity. I am done fighting to get you to say I am right and you are wrong. Because you could never get me to do the same.

I hope it will be the "escapes" that will keep me going on October 10th. When I am tired and hurting I will remember to let my mind go, run from my core, and use my legs to pick up the pace. So at the end of my very first marathon, I will cross the finish line and celebrate with all my friends and of course, my mom.

And such is life, my mind clear and feeling like I managed to outrun all that was bogging me down, I started to head home. A guy I dated at a time when I had lost myself and replaced it with a whole lot of messy passed me with his boyfriend. I smiled, waved, and then laughed the entire way home. I guess we can't "Houdini" everything in life...

Three Songs That Made My Run More Reale:
"I Need You Now" Lady Antebellum
"In Da Club" 50 cent
"Coming Home" Kanye West with Coldplay's Chris Martin