Setting Goals

I've been running lately.  In the past it's been an on again/off again love affair, but lately it's been ON.  I'm using my iPod to track my runs, working toward faster times, longer runs, and more frequency.  Well, I accomplished my first goal today.  I wanted to run 10 times in 4 weeks.  It doesn't seem like much but it was a good way to sink myself into a routine.  I accomplished my goal this morning with a nice 3 mile run.

There's something about setting a goal and following all the way through.  I'm not the best at this kind of sustained concentration but today shows that I can do it.  I'm feeling good.

Running

As I pushed down the roads that crisscross through my neighborhood, I came across a familiar cul de sac.  Instead of pushing past it and along my regular routes, I found myself running down to the end.  There I encountered an lookout point that looked out over downtown Oregon City, the skinny bridge and the falls.  To my left, descending down a deeply forested decline was a paved path.  I jogged down it today and found myself tucked in behind the armory in my town.  Pushing a little further and I found that I was at the school where I think Tracy and I will be enrolling Shea in preschool in the fall.  It is a short-ish jog from my house.

If not for the impulse to explore a new and unseen portion of my town, I would never have found this new path, this new running route, and a quick walking route to my daughter's future school.  I've learned something new today, I've lived a new experience, I've ran, I feel healthy, and, now, I've written.  Today is off to a great start.