A.M. Exceptionally uneventful 20.1 First 15.5 with Ted. Total time 2:26:59. Did not like the snow or the layers of clothes. The only event was measuring our strides in moderately deep snow in the park. Both of us have a discrepancy of 3 inches, but Ted has a very funny way of landing on one of his feet, but not the other - it hovers right near the ground for a while before it lands. Went to our adopted granpa's funeral afterwards. There they sang Be Still My Soul. This is a special song for me. It brought some memories. In the beginning of 2003 I was having a hard time. I was not happy with my job, or my running. I felt I had reached a plateau, and felt condemned to stay at it. I had exhausted the limits of Sasha Science of the day to make me any faster. The only thing that was left to keep me trying was Sasha Faith, and humans by nature have ups and downs in their faith. One winter day that year with lots of snow on the ground I found myself alone 8 miles into a 15 mile run, and 7 miles away from home in a fairly deep snow. Every step was a struggle. My faith was wavering. Is it even worth it to keep trying so hard? I felt like I wanted to lie down in the snow and just stay there. Then in my mind I heard the words and the tune of Be Still My Soul. This revived my spirit, and I continued the run, still struggling through the snow, but with a much different perspective. Eventually Sasha Faith produced an advance in Sasha Science, which led to a breakthrough. It happened in the Top of Utah Marathon that same year. I ran that race with a lot of power. But that power, manifested on the day of the race, had its roots in that run on that dull winter day with God lifting up my soul and telling it to be still, reviving my faith at its down. That is one reason TOU 2003 is a very special race for me, and that is why I still keep the picture from that race on the blog. It will be there until something equally special takes place. P.M. 5 miles by myself (kids ran earlier with Sarah) in 36:25. Still slippery. Picked it up on the last 0.25, ran it in 1:25.
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