On Monday, I dropped my car off at the repair shop in Pinellas Point. My mom came and picked me up and we went to the Indian Mound just down the road. Most people don’t know this tiny little area in between two houses in the pink streets even exists, and my mom was one of those people. The history of the place is somewhat hazy, due to some contradictory signage in the park. There is a violent story about the place that ends in a clubbing-to-death. Then there is a story about a princess and a famed conquistador. Seemingly overruling both of those accounts, there is a sign positioned nearby that states the historical signage was left there to preserve the mystique of the site, in essence. Finally, the most official and accurate looking display names the Tocobaga Indians as the builders of the mound, and details their way of life and history. It’s super interesting to see this little piece of St. Petersburg history so unassumingly positioned in a residential neighborhood.
The trees here are beautiful. There is a mix of oak, magnolia, and a few banyan trees, like the one in the photo above. This has nothing to do with running, I’m aware.
If it felt like a luxury to have a day off, I would probably run. Since it doesn’t feel like a luxury – it feels necessary – I won’t run. It’s best at this stage to go easier than I think I need to. There’s enough time in front of me to get the miles I need on my legs, but I won’t be able to make it there if I overdo it now. It’s funny to me how everything in training is like one of those nested dolls. If you look at one run or one week within the training plan, with its strategic pacing and details, it resembles the training plan as a whole. Not to get too deep, but on a bigger scale it resembles life itself – the gradual accumulation of knowledge. You slowly learn about yourself, your capabilities, and the world around you, and combine that knowledge and experience. Maybe a little too deep. Maybe training is just building up a tolerance to pain in order to do something that hurts, so it doesn’t hurt as much. This is me asking myself why again. An alternative answer to the one I gave (myself) before is that I just enjoy running, even when it hurts. Sometimes it’s important not to analyze everything. Running is just fun.
runjournal 