Everything is Smaller

I woke up today not quite sure where I was. The room was unfamiliar and it was dark, but after a minute I realized I was home, in the same room I slept in throughout high school, a different bed but the same place. I had slept nearly twelve hours, a combination of the Nyquil and being tired but awoke to a steady rain coming down, making me prone to rolling over and sleeping more, knowing I wouldn't be enthusiastic about running in the cold rain when I'm trying to get over a cold.

When I finally did run, it seemed I picked the perfect window, only a few minutes of rain during the hour and a steady downpour fifteen minutes after I got back. All the hills, roads, rivers and lakes that I had grown accustomed to in high school and all seemed so big, now don't. I remember one hill in particular on the back of the reservoir on Mills road, it's more of a gradual incline for a quarter mile. When I would bike or run it in high school it seemed hard or at least long, but when I got there today it was as though I were Gulliver in Lilliput.

I guess when you move away, things get bigger in your mind, or you don't remember them exactly as they are. Additionally, running has changed for me in recent years and whereas I might have seen an eight mile run as long when I was in high school, I now see it as something done easily well under an hour. But as I get older, my perspective changes, as I get stronger, as I get faster, or even just am around fast more often, or around faster more often. Living with Brandon and Lee, and training with Nick certainly has that effect. Brandon telling me about ten mile tempo runs at Wisconsin ending in consecutive miles under five minutes sounded crazy at first listen, but now I'm getting accustomed to it, to the idea of it being something we could do.

I think perspectives changing is part of how life has to be and especially of how a runners life should be, well, any athlete. If your pond never changes size, then when you're the biggest thing in the pond, you'll be satisfied, but if your pond is ever expanding as you grow, you always have a new challenge.