detour ahead

Tomorrow morning I will run my fourth half marathon. This is the first one I have done on a trail instead of the road. It is at Lake Hodges. The trail has hills and can be a bit rocky. I am not sure how many women will be running (it is a race just for women -that's a first also unless you count Disneyland's Tinkerbell half which was mostly women and some men) but I hope there are not too many runners because the trail can be a bit narrow and slightly treacherous. I've run some of the trail I am doing tomorrow many times before which I think will be helpful. Especially the hilly part. But half of the run is unknown. I will also have a friend to run with. We are planning on starting out together and then if one feels more inspired to run faster then we will split up. I know I will be running this much slower than my other half marathons on the road just due to the effects of running on dirt and rocks etc and also due to the hills. So I am mentally preparing myself for a slower result. I am excited. I mentioned it to my stepdaughter, Kaylie. And she said "oh, yeah, running 13 miles sounds like a lot of fun" with a bit of sarcasm I believe. She made me laugh because it will be miserable at certain points (the hills, the last 3 miles probably) and I wonder why that it is fun but, what can I say, it just is.

Earlier this week I ran a 6 mile run at Penasquitos Preserve.  I have run the trail many times.  I go there at least once a week.  On this particular day I went on my regular trail and one mile in came upon this detour sign.  They were doing some trail construction work so I had to go on a smaller side trail.  This single lane trail basically ran parallel to my usual road with the same end point of the water fall at 3 miles.  I had never noticed this trail before.  It was so beautiful.  The photos I stopped and took along my run don't do it justice.  It was gorgeous.  And if it wasn't for the detour I never would have seen it.

A friend of ours recently was diagnosed with cancer. He is doing this intense regimen of chemo where he is admitted to the hospital for a full week of continuous chemo then is off for 2 weeks and then admitted again to repeat. He will do this until next February! Can you imagine? You are swimming along in your life and all of a sudden wham this is your new reality. Forget work, forget dinners at home, forget sleeping in your own bed, forget everything you normally do. From now on you will be living one of every 3 weeks in a hospital getting poison put into your veins to stop the cancer. I have been thinking of him, his positive attitude, his strength, his friendships. He's a lucky guy to have so much. I am a lucky woman to have so much. I am grateful. I am grateful.