The Only Solution

Like Mika sings, “Baby, I hate days like this... when it rain and rain and rain and rains.” Figuratively, of course.

The only thing to do is to put clean sheets on the bed, turn the air conditioning to “igloo,” and take a three hour nap.

And then go for a run.

I was disorganized. I went back for my sportswatch. And then back again for sunscreen. And once I was greased up and smelling like coconut, I had to pick a direction. I stood on my stoop, squinting against the sun. Right, left, or straight.

Or, around the corner then straight. I ran straight for 22:30 minutes, turned around, and ran straight back.

It was my first time running in a few weeks, and the first time in months that I didn’t set a pace. I covered some ground – four neighborhoods, plus a lot of mental territory.

Brownies. Cupcakes. Thomas Keller’s chocolate bouchons. I’m tired of too-sweet cupcakes and I’m playing around with proportions of flour, dark chocolate, and sugar.

My baseball cap, the same cap I wore during the B.A.A. 10K. It started slipping around, falling over my eyes. Is the cap too big? Or is my head freakishly small? Important questions.

Geography. What grounds you, emotionally and literally. A sense of place. Not that I had any – In the trance of block after block, I had to look up at the street signs to remember where I was.

Getting so thirsty. On the way back, I passed runners I had seen earlier, headed in the opposite direction, sharing in the experience of this hot afternoon. We all brushed sweat off our foreheads and looked for shade. 

And I rolled to a stop in front of my building, still thinking about brownies and cupcakes, but feeling much different than at the start.