![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/image-8.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI had forgotten to charge it after almost a week\u2019s worth of running here in Santa Fe\u2026 and who remembers how many runs before that. It\u2019s an all too common mistake for me. Far worse is when I forget to plug in my GPS watch before a race and run timer-less.<\/p>\n
Today then I ran without headphones and just listened to the sounds of Santa Fe. Heading to the bike path route I\u2019ve grown accustomed to running, the roadworks continue, the sidewalks being ripped up to make way for\u2026 more construction? I\u2019m not entirely sure why the sidewalks are being ripped apart as they repave the roads. In any case, I soon found myself on the bike path with nothing more than the rustling, whistling winds, and the occasional bark of a dog. My lumbering footfalls echoed, my labored breathing reverberated through my ears, the HItchcockian-era hotel key jimgle-jangled in my pocket. \u00a0I realized as I slowly\u2026 ever so slowly I regret to say\u2026 made\u00a0my way to my arbitrary turnaround point, that the sound of silence is not always silent. Goofy stray thoughts that meander across the plains of existence\u2026<\/p>\n
Ye gods, that\u2019s pretentious.<\/p>\n
The other thing I realized as I huffed and puffed my way along is that those San Fran photos are probably incredibly accurate depictions of me whilst running. I think I may have a pained, resting\/running sour face. I try and smile and grab selfies along the way but I think when I\u2019m not looking and actively trying to get a smile plastered on my mug, I must look as awful as those photos imply. I\u2019m not advocating I dunk my head in a vat of Acme Chemical Acids, a la the Joker in Batman, but I do kinda wish I had a less sourpuss visage as I ran. There are clinics for proper running form\u2026 I wonder if there are clinics for proper smiling form? I could join a modeling academy\u2026 though somehow I don\u2019t think I\u2019d pass the admissions interview.
\nThe title of this entry is the Call of the Wild and the tertiary reason for this is that as I got back to the hotel I reflected on the aches and pains of the morning. My ankle wasn\u2019t an issue but the bottom of my foot felt like there it had a large cement core. Were I a princess lying on a mattress, I\u2019d detect the pea no doubt. But the \u201cpain\u201d or at least weird aching sensation of that knot in the foot\u2019s base had me thinking oddly of Jack London. At least, I think it\u2019s Jack London. I have this vague recollection of being in a seventh grade English class reading something about a northern wilderness lad who had fallen into a freezing lake. He was injured \u2013 maybe his leg was hurt or his shoulder? Anyway, in the narrator’s experience the brain can only so much pain at any one time; as a result, he bites his tongue so that the pain there is so acute that the brain is fooled into ignoring the pain in his leg or shoulder and he can swim to shore. Maybe it\u2019s another London story \u2013 To Build a Fire? Or maybe it\u2019s somewhere in the Davy Crockett legends, he of \u201cKilled Himself a B\u2019ar When He Was Only Three?\u201d Whatever the case, I thought about the mental capacity for pain with regards to my ankle. Maybe the \u201cpea\u201d in my shoe was covering the ankle, knee, and top of foot aches of the past few days. Maybe what I should do before next weekend\u2019s marathon is stub my toe\u2026 or actually drop a bowling ball on my foot. Ya know, for science\u2019s sake? This of course would break the cardinal rule of avoiding doing anything new on race day. I suppose I could do a practice run with a bowling ball\u2026 hmmm\u2026 the mind boggles.<\/p>\n
See what happens when I don\u2019t run with music during non-race days? I hear the call\u2026 the call of the wild and crazy.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
END NOTE: I\u2019ve been struggling with the entries the last few days\u2026 hell, for the last few months I suppose. They\u2019ve been very rambling and stream of consciousness\u2026 but perhaps that\u2019s indicative of the running I\u2019ve been doing as well. There\u2019s challenges ahead, fun races and experiences, but I\u2019m currently sorta goal-less. Oh, sure there\u2019s the ongoing \u201cRoad To\u2026\u201d Marathon Series quest. And I\u2019ve got just fun one-off events in weird, far-flung, and\/or bucket list locales. But there are times of late that I\u2019m feeling like Alexander.<\/p>\n
When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.
\n<\/em>— Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988)<\/span>… some claim it’s Milton, some Plutarch, but really – it’s Hans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThere are of course many worlds to conquer. It is not as if I have done everything. Off the top of my head, I\u2019d love to run the Athens Marathon, and there are more than a few other international races I\u2019m itching to toe the line at. However, I\u2019m feeling a bit\u2026 unfocused. I\u2019m still trying to cut back on the quantity of races next year, instead focusing on quality experiences\u2026 and yet here I am contemplating running a seven day series at year\u2019s end. I\u2019m a contradiction, an inconsistent pinball bouncing round and round but not bound by the laws of physics.<\/p>\n
These posts are indicative of the fuzzy, out-of-phase mindset I find myself in of late. They\u2019ve been sloppy and erratic, lumbering, as has been my running in general. There\u2019s not a problem per se but there is a lingering sense of, \u201chuh\u2026 something\u2019s not quite right\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
On the plus side, my iPod has a full charge once again. Would that we humans could recharge to 100% so easily.<\/p>\n