Somewhere during the eight miles at Garden of the Gods I decided I didn't like how my shoe was tied.

My right shoe, to be exact. It seemed to put pressure on some small bone that I never paid much attention to until today.

I kept running, wiggled my foot to see if it would alleviate the issue, and contemplated my options. Stop and retie, keep going and suck it in, keep wiggleing and adjusting my footplant to see if i could avoid stopping. I'm not fond of blisters, and jiggling my foot in my shoe seemed a foolish attempt at avoiding the obvious.

I stopped, remebering a video form Runners World that addressed lacing to avoid a hot spot. The dog was not amused as I plopped down to do the task. He was on a mission, and stopping was not on his agenda. Mine either.

Its funny how I need to keep going. Forward purposeful motion.

I am impatient with myself and my diminished capacity. Impatient with the slow build up of miles.

Impatient with my body that betrayed me . 

I am being taught patience. Many different kinds of patience, and if I don't learn the lesson, it will come back at me.

Trust moving forward, but be aware to listen to  and respect the messages my body gives me.

I might never be as fast as I once was. Might not be logging in the 55 plus miles weekly for awhile, or ever again.

I get to stop and retie my shoe. I get to see the small gains in my runs, the speed and the miles.

When I meet up with another runner, I wonder who they see, if they notice me at all.

I will never take mine or anothers running for granted. We all have our unique stories, the reasons why we run, the histories that brought us to that moment. When I pass another runner(or more likely,when they pass me) I smile and nod, maybe say 'hi,' or 'good morning' . We might have different abilities and goals, but we share the journey.

By the way , the re-lacing worked, and the rest of the run was fantastic.