D.I.R.T.

Can you guess what it means to me?

D-o
I-ncredible
R-unning
T-hings

OR

D-o
I-ncredible
R-uns
T-ogether

 Welcome to my new mantra of D.I.R.T. Open ended yet still motivating. Adaptable. Witty. Awkward. Perfect.

Now when people have the question of, "What gets you through the day?" I have my answer.

Dirt. Dirty degrading dredged up dirt. The Terra Firma. Real estate. The best kind of real estate. If my feet can crave things, then they constantly crave dirt. I could have pillows on my feet and they will still ask me for a dirt road dustbowl. With dirt all things are possible. Dirt dash. Dirt duty. Dirt hunting. Follow the path made of dirt. One nation under dirt...only a slight obsession surfacing.

My shoes feel good on dirt. There needs to be more of it because it lets you Do Incredible Running Things.

Now while the first picture may not look as pretty as the second one, the first has dirt while the second one is asphalt.

What my eyes see... this is ok.



What my eyes see... this is incredible.
Can I die here?

And below is what is really going on. This is the way things look from the perspective of my feet....

What my feet see-
Dirt = Pure Joy
Exuberance actually...

What my feet see-
Road = Destruction

Again, I know I am being a bit melodramatic about this but things always get more dramatic than they need to be when you have little reminders of life. I had a small scare this week where my right foot started to bruise. Originally, the problem may lie in how I tied my shoes on a work out day but the bruise continued to form and start to affect my running. The roads hurt more than normal. Grass was fine, dirt was fine. Road was a no-go situation. Especially when the pain grew to cover more of my foot than just the bruise. But I took a day off, ran on the softest stuff I could find, and replaced my shoes with newer ones and the crisis was averted. But I was still worried about the dreaded Sunday long run. How was I going to make it through a situation of 11 miles on the roads or 11 miles on the 300m grass loop inside the track. Hell, how was I going to make it through a season if I could only do the 300m grass loop?

Thank God for Austin and Maddie Murphy. The first picture in this post is from the amazing trail I got to run on today. Town Lake trail in Austin. Perfect place for a Sunday long run. I was in love. There was wildlife, lots of people, sunshine, 80 degree weather, and DIRT! The company made me smile, the mileage made me sore, the run made me hungry, and the sun made me sweat but the dirt made me ecstatic. There was hope after all.

So make sure your life is filled with D.I.R.T. It will make a roads long and far bearable. It will help the body seem less breakable. I have accepted the fact that I am not to adaptable when it comes to different types of terrain. I need the clay colored, earth smelling, foot cushioning real estate.

Life Update- I have now experienced a moment where I was happier watching someone else eat something! The Taco Taco Challenge from this weekend was a success at Trinity! Lots of recruits, great weather, races, jumps, and relays. I will never forget the Thrower Relay which ended in handing the baton (a breakfast taco) to your final leg who had to eat it to finish the race. Rice and beans flew and gave the day a festive flair in the end.