Day 50

The thing I've learned from running so far is that the days where I would rather do anything else except run are the days that I benefit from it the most. Today I ran my four miles in 37 minutes and every mile leg I ran was under 10 minutes and I also set a new 5k record of 29 minutes. When I am in Lincoln I usually run on the trails behind Goodlife Fitness. There are three trails to choose from, and I have ran on two of them often. Today I chose to run on the trail I have only ran on once and it was the trail I ran my first training run on when I started this. I remember my first run. There was still snow on the ground, it was windy and cold, I could barely go over a mile without being out of breath and my side hurting.

I set out on this trail with no particular dedication in mind. Recently I have had a lot on my mind as far as school and internships that I have been stressed about those subjects to think of much else. Within the first few hundred feet of my run, I passed three robins who were standing on the trail. They didn't fly away when I ran by and seemed content on being on the trail.

I decided to dedicate todays run to the man who I fell in love with first, who always has my back no matter the circumstances, and who is never afraid to tell me when I'm being stupid and I love him for it. Seeing the robins on the trail reminded me of my father (his name is Robin) and I know that I am incredibly lucky to be blessed with such an amazing daddy. As my run went on I was surprised by how many elements I passed that reminded me of my dad. All along the trail were what I would call wild flowers, but my dad would call weeds.  After the first mile and a half I passed a man and his daughter fishing on the river bank off of the trail. If you know anything about my dad, you know he loves to fish and I have spent many hours on a boat or on a shore casting lines and catching fish (I believe I had my own pink fishing rod at some point.) As my run went on I started paying more attention to the trail itself and realized that there were many cigarette buds on it. I do not judge my dad for his habit, but he has smoked for as long as I can remember. It's not my favorite thing about him but recently he has been trying really hard to cut back the amount he smokes. I know that that can't be easy and admire him for trying. After I reached the halfway point of my run I turned around and almost started laughing because on the road up ahead that intersected the trail a bright yellow four door ford truck was passing by. The odds of that truck (which was the exact same style of truck my dad drove for years and just recently got a new one) being right there as soon as I turned around were crazy. With about a mile left of my run I realized that there was absolutely no wind on this trail today. Dad hates wind, like most farmers do.

I've been praying for my dad extra for the past couple days. He has a doctor visit tomorrow to hopefully clear his conscience of a few things. I know no matter what the outcome my dad will be strong because  after all, he is the best dad in the world.