The loneliness of the long distance runner

I spent the morning doing PT school research, fueled by my amazing chocolate chip pancakes/sausage breakfast and a cup of strooooong coffee. I think this process is going to be the death of me - for one, dealing with the fact that every damn school has different prerequisite courses, different ways to apply, different essays...not to mention the fact that once I do get in somewhere (hopefully...) then I have to figure out where I'm going for the next 3 years of my life. One of the deciding factors in whether or not to apply to some schools is that they start in the summer...I just can't handle packing up and moving across the country in May, sorry. So far the places I'm applying are alllll over the map...Wisconsin, University of Washington, Boston University, Pacific University in Oregon (maybe), Lacrosse....I think that's all I've got so far, but you get the idea. I'm just glad that most of my classes this semester don't really take up much time, because at least if I'm stressed about applying to schools, its not like I'm going to be studying for 4 exams at the same time.

But that's where running comes in...regardless of whatever I'm stressed about, running is the one time of day when I don't worry about anything. I love running through the trails in the Arb and not seeing anyone...yesterday I was back there and I was thinking about how sometimes when I'm on some back trail and there's no one around and all I can see is trees I feel like I'm the only person in the world (of course, the instant I tought that yesterday, one of the guys from the UW team came running by. But I'm willing to share my secret trails with good runners...hah.) Its just amazing to be able to disconnect from the real world and everything in it even for just an hour or whatever, especially now that going out for a 7 mile run isn't hard for me...in fact, its incredibly refreshing and I feel awesome when I'm done haha. And I'm going to hit 50 miles this week and its not even wearing me out...and that is AMAZING. I could probably run a half marathon right now and beat my time from last summer...ridiculous. I really hope I see this come through the next time I race....because I'm obviously stronger than I ever have been, and its time to show it. I'm ready for a breakthrough.

ps - There's an Iron Maiden song called "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"? And its actually about running? Impressive! I mean, there's nothing particularly profound there, in fact I probably could have written better lyrics haha, but its still kind of sweet.

run on and on
run on and on
the loneliness of the long distance runner
i've got to keep running the course
i've got to keep running and win at all costs
i've got to keep going be strong
must be determined and push myself on