Its a Brutiful Life

I like the word "brutiful".  I can't take credit for it, but mashing "beautiful" and "brutal" really sums up the last week.  Really the last month.  I am still running, but in a more relaxed, therapeutic way, which is so different from my running for the last almost two years.  It feels good.  It feels bad.  I am not sure how it feels.
After Umstead, I went to New York, I ran the American Odyssey Relay, I ran the Frederick "Nut Job" (the 5k Saturday night and the 1/2 marathon Sunday morning).  I have run a few of the Elementary School Challenge runs and even logged some buddy miles.  I have signed up for some races, but nothing long, and nothing trail related.  This is not good for me.  Floundering is not something I am good at, so I have to come up with a plan.

Unrelated to running, in this same brutiful month, I have applied for a new job, and been called back once, twice, three times for interviews.

I have finished out the semester with exams, grading, and topped it all with a gorgeous new (first) granddaughter.

Things are changing so fast, I can barely keep up.  And that is why running is so important.  Putting my shoes on and getting out the door is about the only constant I have had in the last 4 or 5 weeks.  Its automatic, its comforting, its direction with no real clue as to where I might be going.   But I will keep putting one foot in front of the other until I figure out what my next goal should be.  Spoiler alert: it will involve a long run and a trail, of that I am certain.  Just trying to nail down the when and where.  Because I will never take for granted being able to get out there and just going.  It helps make a better me for all the other things going on in my brutiful life.