On this particular morning, the sky was clear, the air was cool and an unexpected surge of nervous excitement was coursing through my legs.  It would normally be a day for running fast but when I set my legs into motion,  the ache almost everywhere let me know that warp speed was no longer on the Options menu.  Today was a day for embracing the journey, smelling the roses and taking the scenic route.  It’s not the goal, it’s the journey.

You have goals, set parameters, prepare, and even occasionally achieve goals if and when you can.  With a Disney Double,  the goal might seem to be everything.  My three Goofy, Mickey and Double medals may some day hang on the wall beside my bed and believing that inspires me.  It is my organizing principle of my running schedule.  But then there is the journey, the journey on a day like today when I would rather be sleeping, where I wonder if I will injure myself, the journey that has only two more long runs, and then will end in Disneyland with weather I can not predict or control.

So here is what I am wondering about my strategy for the race.  I have never been to Disneyland and as an architect I am curious.   I decide to vow to take it slow and distracted, to join a slower pace group and take my camera.  I am going to get hugged by Goofy, snap photographs of castles and palm trees and run 2 minutes a mile slower than my Half Marathon Pace, take that oh competitive ones.

I am going to stalk the rose and smell it.