Going Forward Slowly

The Chinese proverb that ended my post on Sunday seemed appropriate to this week's training: 

"Do not fear going forward slowly;  

fear only to stand still."

- Chinese Proverb

After an unusual five days of "standing still" while I nursed this chest cold, I ventured up to Town on Tuesday morning.  It was raining, something a little more than a drizzle, so I waited in my car until the window of opportunity promised by the reliable weather app on my phone had materialized, which it did.  It felt good to be moving forward in this cool fog, even to be moving forward slowly!  Still coughing up the remnants of this cold, I managed to complete two miles.

Yesterday, we went to Zachary Field to walk a few laps with Martha's brother Bill Lewis, who readers of this blog will remember had a serious heart attack a mere month ago and is beginning cardio rehab.  It was a foggy day, so foggy that at times we could look across the soccer field around which the walking path goes and barely see Bill's ghostly figure on the other side, slowly and with quiet determination making his way in the fog.  "Not bad for somebody who had a heart attack a month ago!" I told him.  Going forward slowly is a relative thing, I reflected, something which all runners quickly learn, of course.  Shalane Flanagan had been running sub-5:30 miles in New York on Sunday.  I had been running 12:44 miles yesterday.  Bill was glad to be merely walking.

On the way back to the car Martha spotted these tiny leaves, sprouting from the rock wall below the walking path, brilliant little blazes of color here on a gray and foggy afternoon.  The beauty of small, almost insignificant parts of a world that I had walked right past and not seen.

This morning when I arrived at the Park I was glad to see Fred just starting out, and we completed four miles together, enjoying that quiet camaraderie runners have, talking about books and bears and marathons and growing older and slower.  Four miles seemed like more of a struggle than it had in a very long time, but it always makes it easier when we go the journey with our friends.  "Well, we managed to stay under 13-minute miles," he said ironically.  I checked my watch and saw that he was right:  12:56.

And so I drove home in a glow of pride and quiet satisfaction at having run just a little slower than Shalane Flanagan had run.