Stop the countdown to the countown!

Monday night I had just sat down for the night at about 10pm.  Mowing was done.  Weeding was done.  Weed Whacking was done.  I was in the midst of doing my long overdue laundry, with two small loads now flipping in the dryer as one, and another in the washer.  I grabbed "Ender's Game" off the coffee table and start to read, and halfway through the first page, I hear a loud metallic bang.  I checked on everything upstairs and went downstairs, still hearing running sounds, but it was only the washer.  The dryer was still heating, but it wasn't spinning, and I wasn't just trying to boil my clothes, so I shut it off.

I've never even thought about taking apart a dryer before, so I needed a little help from the internet in figuring out what to do.  Once I did though, it wasn't too bad, except for the part where I realized I left a few tools inside the dryer (a phillips head from my multi-screwdriver and a pair of plyers I was using to wedge the drum up while I put on the new belt, which was the problem).  So I got to take it apart and put it back together again a second time just for fun (and even found where those two "extra" screws were supposed to go).  It wasn't too bad.  I got it apart the night it broke, and found a belt (thank you SEARS) and got it back running the next day.

I was expecting it all to take up the entire night, so I was pretty happy with still having sunlight left to go running.  So I geared up and the first mile I felt like I was just floating out there.  Ever since the halfer, I've been tight and felt really heavy out there, and every run has been a little bit of a struggle.  Even with the progress I'm seeing in times, it just felt like it was really hard and even a little painful.  Last night was incredibly easy, and I decided for once just to enjoy it, and not push for any time.  I just wanted to slow it down and enjoy running again, which I haven't done in a while.  So I just went for a nice steady pace, didn't get out of breath, and let myself feel the air and the sunshine.  Even with holding back, it was the 3rd best time I've had. 

It kind of made me think I need to do this more often.  I may even think about just ditching the watch too.  Running was becoming both a chore and an addiction lately, instead of something I just do because I love it.  It was something I had to do because I was frustrated or bouncing off the walls, and while I was out there I was too concerned with pushing and getting a few extra seconds off every time.  I know in the winter, I took myself to task for not working hard enough because I wasn't trying to push it out, and was just happy with myself for being out there.  That needed to be done, but I think I swung everything too far the other way.  I need to take time to enjoy the progress too.  Remember, I was running a 5K at 35+ minutes when I started at the Crim in 2009, and I just knocked out a 27:38 last month.  That's a lot of change in less than two years.  Let's face it, I can't expect that ratio of change to persist forever, so I'm going to have to enjoy things while I'm out there too.  Otherwise, it just won't last.