OWL-DRAGON

Today's trail run was very hot and very wet. Besides sweating like crazy, my shoes were soaking from the dew. It wasn't a very pleasant run. And I thought of this missive I had sent to the Dead Runners. There had been a discussion of the best type of rain gear and someone else mentioned that at the end of summer runs you are usually soaked anyway:

The rain gear thread caught my attention because Friday I decided not to run due to the heavy rain that was falling. Yet in a sense it was a silly excuse
since these days I am soaking wet after any run. In fact running in the rain may have been pleasantcompared to the hot runs I have done Saturday and Sunday.

Despite the heat I did enjoy my weekend runs. I reflected on the reports of injuries and their relation to effort. On these runs I was just glad to chug along on courses I laid out long ago and have done hundreds of times. My easy pace was unlikely to induce injury.

Saturday morning was beautiful and I should have run early but instead I grabbed another hour's sleep and then a leisurely read of the paper. By the time I did
a few errands my run was starting at noon. The nice thing was I got to listen to From The Top. It was a reprise show that concentrated on the interaction of the kids with master players lkke Issac Stern.

My consolation on running in the heat was a recent pieceI read online (Runnersworld) that said running early morning doesn't conditioned you to run in the heat.
Since I will be doing the Half Wit next month and since it is always very hot it's good I'm getting heat conditioned.

On Sunday there was increased heat and another late start. Still I enjoyed the run and I am grateful that I can do six miles in the heat and feel so good. On Saturday's From The Top a young violinist was coached by Issac Stern. When Mr. Stern died she wrote FTT a letter praising Stern. In it she said:

I read Mr. Stern's obituary today in the New York Times. While his list of accomplishments, both musical and non-musical, was truly astonishing, it was the
last line that touched me personally. It was a quote from him that said, "and you should get up every morning and say thank God, thank the Lord, thank
whomever you want, thank you, thank you for making me a musician."

In recent weeks I have reflected on my running and with every run I say thank you for the gift of running; thank you for making me a runner.