Long distance running

I was just thinking about the scene in "Grease" when Danny (John Travolta) decides in order to get Sandy(Olivia Newton-John) back as his girlfriend, he needs to participate in sports. And eventually he ends up on the track with the coach telling him "Long distance running"- and pointing off into the distance.

Recently I have discovered that I prefer the longer runs rather than the shorter runs. While I still enjoy the occassional 5k race just to see how fast I can go, I have found that the long runs (6 miles and up) are helpful for many reasons. First it makes me feel good because I know I am doing something positive for my health. Not something I have always done and need to get back to. Second I love music and I am able to listen to about 2 hours of music uninterrupted in my iPod and that always is rewarding. Third, I do my best thinking when I am running, once I get my stride down I can sorta run on "auto-pilot" and listen to my music and think about things. And fourth, running for me is a great defense mechanism, it is therapeutic against the things in life that would otherwsie get me down, whether it be the boredom of work, the stress of paying bills, or anything else. Running makes me feel so good about myself and sometimes I wonder why it took me so long in life to start running?

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how interested N&J are in running. They keep asking me when instead of being pushed in the jogging stroller they can run in some races with me. I need to figure that out, obviously 5 years old is too little to run in a 3 mile race, even if they have jogged 3 miles with me all ready!

Unfortunately the forecast is for rain today, though I still plan on doing at least 6 miles. Monday's race will be good.