Thank God for Chris!!

I REALLY did not want to get up this morning and do the stupid 2.5 miles uphill group run to Pittock Mansion along the Wildwood Trail from Lower Macleay Park. I was fine with the concept of the 2.5 miles back down, but the uphill thing at 7:15 am was enough to make me self-pitying and stubborn. When my alarm clock went off at 6am, I repeatedly hit the snooze enough times to wake up Chris, who then went downstairs and brewed me some coffee to entice me out of bed. I whined, "I don't want to go work out." He countered, "You'll feel better afterwards." I whined again, "But I had such an intense day at work yesterday, and I'm sick of working out. It's hard...." He said, "Drink your coffee. You'll feel better, and then you can just go." I tasted it, and realized it had a funky flavor and that it was, through a coffee bag labelling fault of mine, all decaf. He brewed me another with some caffeine in it. Does this man love me or what?? It worked! I also thought of my teammates who are injured and can't run right now. They'd be thrilled to be able to run the distance. They helped, too.

As expected, uphill sucked. I've never related to those types of people who say that uphill is easier because of your footing and all that. Uphill is always harder and those people are WRONG! They shouldn't be allowed to spread such lies. Thankfully, my teammate Cindy went with me the whole way. So we talked a bit, and that helped it go by a bit faster. And we commiserated, which helped a lot. And the scenery in Forest Park was so beautiful, and that helped, too. We sucked wind together. At the top of the hill, we heard the telltale cowbell, and refreshed ourselves at the big water cooler that teammate Andy was staffing for us, and then it was sweet, heavenly downhill for the remainder. And then the endorphins. I absolutely love those free drugs. So this morning, when it's all said and done, I am grateful: for Chris, for coffee, for my teammates, for my coaches, and for endorphins.