Comfortably Uncomfortable

A 4-ish k with the group (we ran a total of 4.4k).

There are a lot more people in this round of clinic: enough to split into a fast/medium/slow group. I joined up with the medium paced group. The way out was difficult: I was tired and felt unfit. I ran with a group that - fortunately - also felt the same way. We ran single file in such a way that we were close enough to be considered "running together" but far enough apart not to bother with talking. After the first km we even took turns naturally surging ahead and leading the pace. It was companionable in its silence.

The second half of the run was where I really hit my stride. I was uncomfortable as I pushed myself - a small stitch in my side and heavy breathing kept my thoughts from wandering. But I found my rhythm in that gentle push, and in that rhythm, peace filled me. It's hard to explain that feeling when you find inner peace from a challenging exercise - I can't say I get there all that often - but I was so settled and comfortable in my discomfort that I decided to ignore the second walk break and run on to the finish. I didn't have my fancy Garmin watch, but apparently I was at a sub-6min pace. After so many weeks off running, I'm pretty satisfied with that time. But more than the time, it was a wonderful feeling to find that centre of peace during a challenging run.