sleep

I don't mean dreams where you're running away from stuff, or those horrible ones where you're running because you're late, missing a train or a plane or something... no, just straightforward glorious RUNNING free dreams...

I got one last night. And yes, I did wake up a bit tired :) I was in some kind of race that seemed to involved winding up the pace, up and up, for a mile or so, then easing off. I can still feel in my body the sensation of effortless speed.

I've been back from the North Pole for exactly 10 days and have had a lot of time (10 days to be exact) to reflect on the experience.. It may sound corny and a little cliche', but my time at the Pole was definitely life-changing and is something I will carry with me always.

What did it for me was not the marathon and definitely not that crazy bike race. What made the trip special was the 24+ hours I spent at the Pole after all the athletic nonsense. For me, the trip really began when my bloodshot eyes opened on Sunday "morning" and my hangover was immediately cured by the heater in our tent cutting out at 4am. The temperature dropped from somewhere near freezing to something substantially below that within minutes.

Every morning I get up at 5:15. My body is used to that time of day, so I have no problem getting out of bed. But when I come back from the bathroom, my anguish begins. Pillow talk. My pillow is staring at me. My first thought is always the same, "I love my pillow". Then it never fails that I imagine my pillow saying to me, "you know you want to sleep some more". Curse that pillow. Why is it talking to me? I have to look away. If I look away I can put on my running gear and go downstairs, grab my water bottle and head out the door. Then I tell myself, "Just down the street and back". That is about 2 miles. But I'm working on increasing my speed and mileage. But it's so early and "just down the street and back" sounds soooooo good. Fortunately for me, I just get my running legs by the time I go down the street, and so I turn off for a 5 miler. If I do the 5 miler I end at Starbucks for a well deserved Americano. And today was no exception. Everything happened just as it does every morning; and that Americano was so good! 5 miles; 48:17.