RunnerGirl’s Training (b)Log

My husband and I headed back to my hometown to visit family.  Slept in a little today after a very late night of travel.  But a late morning run is no problem when there is no hot sun or humidity!  I knew it would be cooler in New England but this first run was a bit of a shock.  It was a cold, rainy 52 degrees!  I ran 5 miles and don’t think I ever broke a sweat.  [To my fellow Floridians…] Can you believe it???

The first run on a trip home always results in a rush of memories and emotions.  Running by the places I drove or ran by as a teenager, wondering who lives in those familiar houses now, wondering if I will see anyone I know or if anyone will recognize me running down the road.

I only wanted to run 5 miles because I am racing a 5K cross country race tomorrow night plus a 10K mountain race on Saturday.  It was difficult to run by all the familiar streets I ran on during high school and not go explore them.  The most tempting was the Thompson Street hill.  I looked up the hill and the memories rushed back of my cross country team and I running repeats up the long, steep hill with my dad (who was our coach) standing at the top.  Those were some of my favorite workouts.  They were certainly the toughest too!  I can almost remember the sensation of legs and lungs burning when nearing the top.

Thompson Street Hill

I wanted to run through downtown on Main Street, up to the old high school cross country course, up to the cemetery to visit Bepa’s grave, and even way up Brimfield Road (the side of a mountain really) to East Hill Road to run by our old house and Westview Farms Creamery (my first job!).  But I stuck to my easy 5 mile run with the rush of memories and despite the chilly rain it was very satisfying physically.

Emotionally I definitely needed a longer run to process it all.  When running “back home” it’s hard not to think about loved ones who are no longer with us, former teammates, schoolmates, teachers, coaches, and just all the people who knew me as I would run down the street.  When I ran in high school, I felt pretty famous running through our small town because it seemed everybody knew me or knew my parents and knew they had this crazy running daughter.  Even after we moved away, I would come back to town to visit family and run through downtown and still people knew me, waved and honked.  As the years went on, this happened less and less.

On this run I mostly thought about Bepa who passed away last summer on my birthday and how strange it is being back here again and not seeing him.  Each time I go back to my grandparents’ house whether from a run or other outing, part of me expects to see him when I walk in the door.  Man that is hard to get used to.

Also fresh on my mind on this first run home was Michael J. Kane.  He passed away recently from Cancer too.  He was the most amazing man.  When I first met him, Mr. Kane was the Principal of our junior-senior high school.  I thought about all the positive ways he influenced my life and the impact he has had on so many lives since my days here.  I read his obituary online and it is simply inspiring to read about all that he has done for student-athletes in Massachusetts.  One day I hope to leave a fraction of the impact he has on young peoples’ lives.  I think it is the strong, positive influence of people like Michael Kane that have made me want to be the best coach I can be to the high school students I coach.  I know how important that can be during those critical high school years and I think that is why I stick with coaching high school; it is where I feel I can do the most good.

Anyway, running back in my hometown is never just a run anymore.  There’s too much history.  I can’t just run.  It just doesn’t work that way.  But I guess I wouldn’t want it any other way either.  The whole reason we go back home is to reconnect with family and be with the ones we love whether that be physically or emotionally.  And on the run, my mind goes where it needs to go.

Tags: home, inspiration, silence, thankful, training

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 12:56 pm and is filed under run inspired thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.