Rheumatoid Regrets

I awoke last Monday with a smile on my face, my entire soul burning with purpose. I had set myself a target (finally) after weeks of haranguing over my grand purpose in life.. as if I was all that significant! I think the PhD has actually dulled my brain, rather than sharpen it. I was never a huge fan of the ivory tower, yet, I run circles around it, hoping it will change. Change me or change itself? Not sure. The Monday was spent running three times and a solid swim. My bike had a flat on Sunday night and I was too lazy to fix it and decided to run everywhere instead of bike everywhere, as I normally do, hence the three runs. On Tuesday, the bike tire was still flat and I was just as lazy and so, once again there were two runs and a solid swim. Of late, Ive been dancing a lot, in the privacy of my own living room.. Once one is as photogenic as me, one knows the probability of scaring children to be very high, both pictorially and otherwise. So, I limit my Bollywood moves to when I am entirely alone.. but, the good news is that this must mean I am happy about something. Tuesday night is an exceptionally hectic night in my life and after a few calls, I felt the need to run again. This was on the training plan and I was itching to run. There was a full-moon out and this really helped set the mood for the negative split run, as did the music I recently purchased.

The run went better than planned, being my sixth run, in two days. My left leg was wincing a bit at the effort at the end but, I took it as a compliment, iced it and went to bed. The next day called for a ride and my left foot was not a happy camper. However, once committed twice shy so, I took off on my ride anyway, determined to get through it. 45 minutes in, at an intersection, I fell hard in an attempt to brake and get my foot out of the pedal and landed on my left side. I hauled a ride back home, unable to bend my knee and a tad concerned for wasting a beautiful day. After a few visits to the physio, a lot of ice and ibuprofen later, I was in slightly better shape the next day and decided to finish my ride. I only got about an hour in when the knee started to have issues tracking again.. since my romancing the pavement experience from less than 24 hours ago was firmly implanted in my brain yet, I didnt want to risk another fall. I have been known to do silly things but, I had a huge block of training coming up so, I went home and slept for about 36 hours, with ocassionaly wake-up calls for food and things. My friends tried to get me to go with them on a holiday for Easter but, even those plans did not keep me from snoring loudly in the back of the car, while the car left and came back to town. Sleeping beauty was in full force. Apparently the bruising was worse than I was ready to admit and cost me 3 days of training. BUMMER!

I wonder now, how today will turn out. I sure hope that I dont give into regret, look over my shoulder and waste a perfectly beautiful day. So, the plan is to finish up some work and get back into the training, my mind burning with purpose once more. The best things in life are the simple ones. A satisfying run, a kind word, an encouraging smile, a silent prayer, a beautiful song, a lack of judgement about lives we know nothing about and appreciating our opportunities.