Anyone who’s ever run a trail race while listening to an MP3 player on shuffle mode probably knows the feeling of hoping that a Rocky-esque song infused with deep meaning will start to play in the final stretch toward a summit. The last thing you want to hear as you push to the top is a saccharine duet by Zac Ephron and Vanessa Hudgens. My preteen daughter’s pop tunes tend to wind up in my music library, so that experience — the audio equivalent of having a nice walk ruined by stepping in dog poop — happens to me from time to time.

Thankfully, this is not about one of those times. (more…)

My legs feel as heavy as the stack of textbooks my daughter lugged home on her first day of 7th grade last week, and when it comes time to run, I want nothing more than to curl up with my novel and eat an entire bag of peanut-butter-filled pretzels.

September and the start of school should mark an end to the Dog Days of Summer — the months plagued by heat and a lack of productivity, or a period generally marked by stagnation and lethargy — but I have felt mired in the dog days of training. (I always thought they were called “dog days” because dogs lie around with tongues out panting, but in fact the name comes from the position of Sirius in the night sky during summer; Sirius, the brightest star, is known as “the dog star” because of its position in the Canis Major constellation. But I digress …)

I don’t know why I’m feeling sluggish and negative; I can’t blame the weather, which mostly has been mild, or my schedule, which has been manageable. If someone asks me how I’m running, I say “slowly” or “not enough.” I feel thick and heavy and nightly give into cravings for beer and cheese. My head buzzes with negative self-chatter about how I’m slacking off and not putting in the effort to do my best at the upcoming race.

And then, all of a sudden, a couple of things slapped me on the side of the head and knocked me out of the running doldrums. (more…)