Destination Run - Butler University

I have been taking a short hiatus from blog writing as I transitioned into my rest cycle the last couple weeks.  As many of you endurance athletes can understand, going from a lot of activity and intensity to only occasional easy runs and yoga... it makes you a little crazy.  I was super short-tempered, had a short attention span, and was ready to jump out of my skin or pick a fight at a moment's notice.  I can thankfully say that stir crazy phase is over, in part because of the weekend I had planned. 

If there's one thing I love, it's destination running.   I love to incorporate runs into vacations of mine.  It's a great way to get to know the area you're in, it can break up a long drive, and it can bring you to unexpected beautiful places. 

Friday morning I left well before sunrise to get a head start on a drive down to Kentucky to visit my brother and sister in law.  I cruised through Chicago before morning traffic got heavy and slid into northern Indiana right around breakfast time.  I love finding small, out of the way restaurants in tiny towns when I road trip, so I stumbled across a little diner in Rensselear, Indiana and settled in for a Denver omelet, coffee, and read my current book 'Running Ransom Road' by Caleb Daniloff.  I really enjoyed seeing the three groups of men at their own tables - one group on their 40's, one in their 60's, and another table of six men who looked to be in their 70's and older.  They talked about the news of the week, whose tractors got fixed, whose needed fixing, what their grandkids did in school that week.  It was quaint and warm, just as you'd expect in a small town.

 

A few hours of driving later I got to Indianapolis where I stopped to visit a previous athlete of mine who is in her freshman year at Butler University. I hadn't seen her since she  graduated high school this past May, so I was excited to catch up with her.  It was a happy reunion, and she showed me her dorm and I got to meet her RA.  We went on a run through campus and on trails that are part of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and talked the whole way.  I appreciate the role reversal once and athlete of mine goes off to college.  I love to visit them at their new home, and then they get the opportunity to lead, show me their new life, and lead the conversation about their new experiences and they changes they have undergone.  The brief visit was a great opportunity to catch up with someone I spent 4 years coaching, and also got my blood moving to help the last three hours of my drive better. 

Tomorrow as I head back home I am stopping in a town I grew up in for a 'memory lane run' which I am really excited about.  I may not be running any significant mileage right now, but being able to run in some different places is definitely helping me adjust.