From Glum to Plum

30 Mar 2009 - Ridgeline @ Blanton, Eugene I spent the first part of today gathering data for taxes, and so I suspect that's what led to my rather glum mood by the afternoon. I don't expect taxes to be too bad this year, but it is always just a pain to gather up all the data and so on, and I hate spending my time doing that. So, once I was done, and ready to FedEx the non-digital docs to my CPA, I threw on my running gear and headed out. First to send the tax docs, then to run Blanton. Today is a really gorgeous day - sunny, decent temp at 52F, no wind. I started out the run, and as seems to be a trend these days, felt pretty slow and slothy. But, by a bit before the halfway mark, I was warm and feeling fairly good. Hit the turnaround point on track for a decent time, which surprised me, as I thought I was a couple minutes slow, but I guess that last stretch from the sort of lookout area to the turnaround on Willamette goes quicker than I thought. Stopped to tighten up my shoes, and then headed back. The first half of the trail back is the toughest part of the run, it has all the steepest sections, and is the longest sustained ascending. On the last two times, I've been walking the steepest chunks of it, and I think that has been a really good idea. Interestingly enough, it hasn't seemed to slow me down, in fact, today was my fastest time ever at Blanton, and last week's was my second fastest. Maybe the walking is significantly less hard on me and allows me to then go faster on the other sections. By the end of the run, probably also helped out by my fastest time at 32.5 minutes, I was on a high. The great weather, and all the endorphins and natural high that I always get from a good workout contributed to a massively improved mood! I love being outside around lots of trees, a nice day, having done a workout, etc. I've said it over and over to myself (and others), that exercise is so critical for me (really it should be for everyone) - it's not just about staying fit and healthy physically, but it is probably one of the biggest mental health things for me as well. Feeling good!