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  classic portland winter weather finally came back. temps in the 40's and raining. as a cyclist i much prefer cold and dry but as a runner i can go either way but sometimes running in that nice mist underneath a full canopy can be very cleansing. i went out for a 14 miler with my friend i've been coaching a couple days ago. it didn't start out very "cleansing" but it sure as hell ended that way.
  we headed out and right off the bat we were at two different energies. i had been downing quite a bit of coffee. as soon as we hit the trail, i started talking about all kinds of shit going on in my life. most of the time this is a pretty good technique as it can pass the time and somehow transport us back to the trailhead as if it were just a walk in the park. didn't quite go that way this time around.
  i have a friend that i train with from time to time and most of the time we can just discuss life shit, get some laughs out of it, maybe some good solutions, sometimes just passing stories back and forth about our fucked up friends or some shit. again, most of the time it's a great way to re-connect but sometimes...fuck. sometimes it's just handing this big, awkward bunch of negative weight over to your friend and asking them to carry it for awhile. well, that's pretty much what i did to my friend as they were heading into the longest run of their life at this point.
  it took me to the halfway point before i realized this was the problem and once i did i started taking action to get it back. it worked to a point but a lot of "damage" had already been done. eventually we were just running in silence, in that zone you get in at times. and i pulled ahead a little. i would slow it down every couple miles to make sure they were okay. of course they were but i could see that "look." i've seen that "look" so many times on friends after they've crossed that line to the place their body has never been to before. or t least in a while. i've had that look myself quite a few times. to be honest, i could feel it right there but knew i still had a while to go. i got to the car and got myself together and a few minutes later my friend came running down the trail. and then fell apart. tears, confusion, relief, all that good stuff. i was almost jealous but knew i would get mine this week on my 20 miler. all this wasn't about pain either. just overwhelmed. fucking awesome.
  afterwards we talked about how nice it'll be when they can do a run like that and it'll be nothing. i warned them that for some reason it doesn't always work like that. some days you can head out for a 3-4 mile run and it's fucking miserable the whole time. stride is off, joints stiff, tired, music in the ipod isn't getting you there, whatever....then you barely sleep the night before a 20 miler, forget to eat breakfast, or charge your ipod and you end up with such a perfect run that it's almost a performance art piece. only i'm the only one that appreciates it. guess that's EXACTLY like a performance art piece. anyway, topped the run off with burritos and frozen pizza. probably the fucking worst thing to replenish with but  sometimes you gotta reward 'em with the fun stuff. kale smoothies aren't always the best motivator. i mean, this IS performance art, right?

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