I’m putting a tease here at the top about someone who’s actually newsworthy: Ann Trason. The other day I had the chance to sit down and talk with the ultrarunning legend, the woman who has broken 20 world records. So read on if you want to hear a bit about her. But first, I have some catching up to do.

I started this blog in August and promptly back-burnered it, like so many half-baked projects that clutter my office countertop. Who has time? I had to get my kids adjusted to the second and fifth grades, schedule their afterschool activities, report and write a freelance article, start a Cub Scout den, repaint my daughter’s room, develop a personal website (to be launched soon), etc. etc. — all the while obsessively following news of the unfolding political and economic drama, and — oh yeah, I can’t let this drop off — continuing physical therapy for injury rehab. Phew. Throughout it all, I made steady improvements in my running. I’m about 75 – 80 percent back to normal, in terms of speed, weekly mileage, and the strain I can put on my right foot before it starts “talking back to me.”  I rejoined my old track group on Wednesday mornings and for the first time this week managed to bump up from a safe and steady tempo pace to some faster intervals (a few 400s at approx 1:25 and a couple of 800s at 3:00 flat). I felt so satisfied and centered afterward, as though I had rediscovered the feeling of “flow.” Mostly, I was flush with gratitude. Gratitude, and perspective. Here’s where my conversation with Ann Trason comes in. (more…)