Running Without A Nut Job

It was one of those days where getting out of bed was a bad idea. Late for work, I spilled my Chocolate Mocha before so much as a taste. My co-workers were behaving worse than usual and the ban on peanut butter was really starting to stress me out.

You get the picture. I needed a good run.

After work I changed into my running clothes and looked for somebody to run with, but there wasn't a nut job in sight. I was alone in the world.

Moment of Truth

With no other choice I decided to run by myself.

I grabbed my mp3 player loaded with such running classics as "Wipeout", the all time best song to finish a race with, and "Knock Three Times", by the Partridge Family. Who needs a running partner when you can have David Cassidy?!

The Loner Concept

The lone runner has been romanticized in the movies as serene and composed. They are one with nature. Profound Thoreau-like thoughts go through their minds;

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854)

I admit, my thoughts are not quite at the "Thoreau Level" when I'm out there, but every now and then, a solitary run has taken me a few steps closer to Happy Land.

This was not one of those times. I was sore and tired and cranky. Maybe it was better that I was alone for this one. Misery might love company, but company does not always love misery.

As usually happens, somewhere during the first mile I began to shake off my moodiness. By the time my run was over, I was feeling better. Not Nirvana-better, but good enough.

As for tomorrow's run, enough of the solitude, I want my nut job back.