Day 4 - Encouragement = Speed

Today's scheduled run: 3 miles

Today's completed run: 3 miles (woot!)

Today was not quite as yucktastic weather-wise as yesterday, but it was blustery and cold. The forecast called for rain, and the skies looked ominous; so I took to the treadmill once more. Of course, as soon as I got on, the sun came out for a beautiful sunset. Alas... I completed my three miles at an average 8:38 pace, which was great, though not a speed I could have sustained for much longer than that. Still, it's good to get in some speed runs. Hal Higdon always says you won't race fast if you don't train fast.

Running tunes included the same three "top hits" stations I mentioned yesterday. Today's cool down song was "Sweet and Low" by Augustana.

EmBz and me, circa March 2010

The most notable part of this run was the phone call I got .35 miles in from my friend, EmBz, who lives in faraway Cleveland. Okay, it's not that far, but it sure feels like it sometimes. I told her I couldn't chat for too long, so she told me she just needed to say one thing before we hung up. That one thing was one of the best things anyone can say to a bald girl: You look really good without hair. She said it in more words than that, which made me blush and grin terribly; but you get the picture.  I was pleased that I didn't start crying. Instead, I was grinning; by the time the two-minute call was over, my jaw hurt. EmBz, you made me run fast today; and I love you for it and many other things. (Since she mentioned her sister had a part in it, too - here's your shout-out, KBz!)

I promise you that no matter how much confidence someone appears to have, they need to be encouraged. I think it's fair to say that most of us don't encourage people as much as we should, or even as much as we want to. The encouragement burns on our tongues, but we feel weird saying it, or we don't want to offend, or we don't want to sound condescending. In my experience, genuine encouragement very rarely does any of those things.

So, go. Go be encouraging. Tell someone what they are good at, or why you like them, or even how beautiful they are. You'll feel great; they'll feel great. Win-win.