Shift.

It is a beautiful pre-spring day and I'm running along the harbor.  The water is glistening and out in the diamond-cut waves, I spot my first few busy boats of the season doing busy things that boats do.  Summer is coming fast and furious.  However, this particular run is not a good run.  Although the scenery and scenario are perfect, the wind is pushing me back and making my still recovering legs ache.  When I hit mile 10, I decide it's a good stopping point.  I enjoy waxing poetic about how much I love running, but as with any relationship, there are days that are not as good as others.  It's about working through it and remaining happy on the other side, and stopping at 10 miles was enough to keep me pleased. 

And then I hit the pool at the gym.  This is a shocking development.

Hitting the pool wasn't shocking in itself, it's more that I enjoyed hitting the pool.  I enjoyed getting into a rhythm, I enjoyed swimming non-stop and how it made me feel leaner and stronger (even though I need to work on both), and I enjoyed being in the water.  I enjoyed the quiet.  I even enjoyed being at the gym, a place that I stupidly pay for each month but never use, mostly because I'd much prefer to be outside running or biking...or swimming in the harbor.  I ended up swimming a whole mile in the pool, straight in a little over 46 minutes.  Not great by any stretch, but I'm more excited about how it felt relatively effortless and FUN, which is completely crazy since I haven't swam since the Half Ironman back in September.  And before that, I had only done one (yes, one!) training swim because I dislike swimming that much.  However, I've also learned that when I do not enjoy doing something that I need to do to get to my goals, I tend to embrace it rather than avoid it.  Making friends with enemies disengages them and creates allies.

Maybe it's time to shift a little, away from the marathons and more towards triathlon?  I have been battling an ankle injury, and the cross training will certainly help.  I signed up for a few more triathlons for the year so far, my consolation prize for only doing one May marathon.   

For those of you who have been following my banter and are interested, I've added a roster of my upcoming races to the left over there.  I'll revise the list as I celebrate the finish lines.  This year's goals have shifted, it's now looking like 7 marathons, a bunch of half ironmans and then the big, important race where I hear those words that I've been dying to hear my entire life more than any others:

Blueskyrunning...YOU are an IRONMAN.

Dream big.  And run happy.