I’m starting to pack like a girl. Two bags and three outfits for one day seems like a lot. The problem is that I don’t know what the weather will be like, really. This is the time of year when it could be 30 degrees or it could be 50 degrees and the difference between the two is much greater than 50 and 70. At least as far as dressing for success goes. 50 degrees = t-shirt and shorts. 70 degrees = t-shirt and shorts. 30 degrees = tights, briefs, base layer, jacket, gloves, and ear warmer. Yes, the also girlish ear warmer because the o’fro provides more than its share of insulation up top. Add on top of that wanting to maintain the option of the kilt and you have a crap ton of clothes to take for a short trip.
Which could in fact defeat the purpose if one takes it too seriously. Having a ton of gear and messing around with it can be fun because its like having toys or whatever. If the gear is not toys then it is work to maintain it and if I want to do some work, I’ll go to work not to the Monkey. The Monkey is for fun. Yes, I do have strange ideas about what is fun. Yes, running around in the woods for 26.2 miles sounds like fun.
Or if not fun, then a source of joy. Joy is a little different than fun because there is such thing as empty fun but joy can always fill you up. Joy includes integrity, setting out to do something and doing that thing. Joy can include struggle, but a healthy struggle. Maybe it’s a striving to reach past where I have been before. Joy includes the singing quads and calves and hamstrings that let you know they are working. Joy does not include a piercing meniscus or a throbbing shin.
Some things that happen over the course of 26.2 miles a person will not have any control over. Some things you have to choose before it even starts. Like who to run with and where to go. All over the country there are people who are pushing through marathons, punishing the course and themselves in order to make something serious happen. I think they might as well go to work. Sunday I will be running with people who run for joy.