Sara reminded me of one of my favorite books of all time, A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami. I read this book quite a few years ago and followed it up with “Dance, Dance, Dance”, the sequel. In it, the main character is going through some rough times, and a mystical character called the Sheep Man (who talks without spaces between his words) appears and kind of helps him through it. I was going through a really rough point in my own life at that time, and this speech by the Sheep Man became my mantra. I knew that no matter how hopeless things seemed at the time, I had to keep “dancing” and eventually things would get better. If I gave up, I’d be stuck.
“Dance,” said the Sheep Man. “Yougottadance. Aslongasthemusicplays. Yougottadance. Don’teventhinkwhy. Starttothink, yourfeetstop. Yourfeetstop, wegetstuck. Wegetstuck, you’restuck. Sodon’tpayanymind, nomatterhowdumb. Yougottakeepthestep. Yougottalimberup. Yougottaloosenwhatyoubolteddown. Yougottauseallyougot. Weknowyou’retired, tiredandscared. Happenstoeveryone, okay? Justdon’tletyourfeetstop.”
Well things did get better. A LOT better. I no longer need to keep this quote in my wallet to look at daily. But I just looked it up again and realized it’s a great running quote as well. 
Especially during a race: Justdon’tletyourfeetstop!
Today: 10.00 miles
Week: 25.00 miles
March: 25.00 miles
2010: 177.93 miles
My longest run and my highest mileage week this week! This also marks the end of no-rules-month. On Monday I start training for my half marathon. But per my program, Monday is “stretch and strengthen”. Running doesn’t start until Tuesday. So I have the next 2 days off. The way I feel now, I’m really glad for that. The rest of the entry comes directly from what I posted at Daily Mile.
I joined the double digit club! The run went amazingly well. I just had a mini clif bar and a bit of gatorade before I left. Brought some gel and more clif bars and some gatorade along, but only needed a few ounces of the drink and nothing to eat. Felt strong the whole time, though my legs were pretty wobbly once I stopped running.
Incredibly gorgeous day for a run. Not a cloud in the sky. About 29ºF when I left, but almost 40 when I got back. Pond Road, the North-South road at the end of my loop on the other side of Wellesley College, is absolutely beautiful. It’s a narrow paved road through thick woods, broken here or there with farms and big old mansions. Runs a mile and a half, but only two cars passed while I was on it. It was hilly at points though.
Counted 34 other runners along the way, and in the wildlife department, I saw a pair of swans. Got in at around 9 am. We are going to the Boston Symphony Orchestra family concert today at 12, so as soon as I walked in the door, wife was pushing me to get ready. Immediately showered and shaved, and only now, 45 minutes later, am i sneaking 10 minutes to finally sit down and eat something.
