Junk miles averted thanks to some Teutonic beweggrund!

I rarely listen to music when I run, especially outside. I find it distracting in a not-good way (like when Inappropriate Speedo Man parades around the gym pool). But when I know a run is going to be particularly tedious I bring my iPod because the tunes help pass the time. My lower legs have been feeling unhappy since Tuesday, so I grabbed the iPod to get me through yesterday's six miles.

The first three miles were just terrible. My calves were complaining vocally and I couldn’t muster any speed at all. Then around mile 1.5 I got passed. Normally I have no problem getting passed – there are many runners out there who are much faster than me and I'm hip to that. In fact there's this one woman who frequently chicks me when I run the SC at lunchtime (lousy so-and-so). Anyway, it wasn't the fact that I got passed, it was the Passer that bugged me. It was this girl and well, not to hate on her, but she did not look like she ran a lot. I don't mean that she was heavy (I'm living in a glass house on that one) but she had NO muscle tone in her legs. You know what I mean – whether you want it or not, running tends to make for some alarmingly defined calves and thighs. This girl, not so much. And I was all, dang it, I'm getting passed by some chick who runs twice a month? Sigh. I kept hoping she'd turn around at each half-mile marker so that I could at least salvage some small shred of pride in knowing that I was going longer than she was. Nope. I turned around at 3 miles having been thoroughly served.

Back to the music thing (aka what was supposed to be the point). After turning around I took a minute to stretch out my calves, hoping they'd feel better. I started off in my pathetic jog again, cursing Phideppides, when these dulcet tones came into rotation on my iPod:

Yes! Awesome! Yes! It's Rammstein, everyone's favorite mask-wearing, moonshine-swilling, car-exploding German industrial metal band! Immediately I perked up.

Am I going to let this stupid ribbon of pavement beat me? NEIN!
Am I going to plod home in misery? NEIN!
Will I relegate this run to junk miles? Heck NEIN!

No joke, I started sprinting like the car behind me was on fire. It was wicked – like running a 5k where you just put everything you have out there. Sweeeeeet. I made it back to the start in like, half the time, and wasn't dragging at the end. At all. "Bring it on!" I was thinking. I wanted to break into a little Muhammad Ali shadow-boxing action at the stoplight but thought better given the large crowds of people around me. Now if only Inappropriate Speedo Man would do the same…
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PS - Just for good measure I got hailed on again, while out in the boat Monday night. It was kind of a kick, actually. I got soaking wet despite being reasonably well water-proofed but hey, it is a water sport.