Best run ever?

I love running.

It took me longer to recover from this past marathon than my others. It was only a week off but I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be out in the sunshine, stretching my legs over miles of pavement. Ahhhhhh.....is there anything better? I venture to say no. At least not to the running-deprived runner.

My first run was only a few miles and it actually hurt a little, but after a hearty calf massage from my roommate, I was loose-y goose-y and happy on my next run. God bless my roommate for giving me back my running, the kind that feels almost effortless, even when I'm working hard, the kind of running that "hurts so good" and makes me tired but energized.

I'm headed to Lake Powell for a couple of days and will do my running in the lake. People who don't know me very well always think me crazy for wanting to run during a vacation. I say no better time or place to run. No better way to explore your surroundings. One of my favorite runs (which is saying a lot because I've been doing this for almost 20 years) was in Venice. My dad and I ran around the streets/sidewalks (they don't really have streets) and we saw people on their way to school or work, men unloading crates from a large boat to a dock warehouse, boats quietly shuttling people to and fro...It was so real. Real people doing real things in an unreal place. It was so human and alive in a different way than Venice at night is.