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Exactly What I Needed

So I’m running through the park the other day.  Because in an attempt to be a little healthier, feel better, and dislike my body a little less, I’ve kicked this whole “healthy lifestyle” that I’ve been pantomiming for the last year into high gear drive, and one facet of that has been to take up running.  Because, I mean, if Preggers City Kim can run with a baby in her belly, surely my lazy not-knocked-up-but-a-little-squishy-nonetheless ass can manage to do the same.  (Or at least half of the same, because we all know that secretly Kim is Superwoman.)

Which is how I find myself running through the park.  And not particularly enjoying myself.  Because sure, the park is gorgeous, and it’s all autumn-y, but it’s also threatening to rain any second.  And it’s much later in the day than I usually run, so I’m a little tired to begin with, and it’s right before dinner, so I’m hungry.  Plus, I’ve been passed at least twice by every member of the Saratoga Springs High School boys and girls cross country team, none of whom appear to be sporting more than 4 or 5% body fat, and many of whom aren’t wearing shirts.  So I’m a little on the grouchy side.  And even though I know in my heart that I’ll finish the run, if only out of stubbornness, I’m definitely hurting physically and mentally.

And then, as I turned the corner out of the woods, I saw this:

Which, if you can’t tell from the pictures, (I don’t blame you,) is a complete double rainbow.  From my path, I could see both ends of both rainbows.  It was absolutely breathtaking.

Numerous other runners were on the same path at the time, (this park is crazy popular for runners and walkers,) and everyone that I came upon stopped for a moment to share our excitement over this beautiful happening.  This is unusual, since most of the time when I cross paths with a runner, there is either no acknowledgement between us or at the most, a smile or nod.  But suddenly, in the presence of this natural beauty, everyone seemed eager to reach out and share this moment.

As I left the rainbows behind and returned to my run, my step felt a little lighter, and suddenly I wasn’t so grouchy anymore.  Seeing such a beautiful gift of nature seemed to fill me with…happy, I guess.  I’m not narcissistic enough to believe that some benevolent force put that double rainbow there just for me to make me happy;  that rainbow would have occurred whether I’d been there to see it or not.  But I do feel very lucky to have chosen that path to run at that time on that day, because at that moment, that rainbow was exactly what I needed.

(Though a monkey holding cupcakes would have done it, too.)

{ 11 comments… add one }
  • Charm City Kim October 11, 2010, 10:13 am

    Thanks for the blog shout-out but I am far from Superwoman!!

    and I know running sucks now (actually it still kind of sucks for me) but it gets easier as you keep doing it. I promise! This is coming from someone who faked an asthma attack to get out of lacrosse try-outs in high school because they wanted us to do a 2 mile run warm-up. What kind of warm-up is that?!

  • Suzy Voices October 11, 2010, 12:28 pm

    Double rainbows are AWESOME. Please tell me that you’ve seen the double rainbow video on YouTube. Best ever! I’d link to it here, but I can’t get onto YouTube at work. Boo!

  • Camels & Chocolate October 11, 2010, 2:16 pm

    Hysterical! We also saw three pairs of double rainbows while in the Bahamas last week! I love how double rainbows are the new black.

  • Honest to Christina October 11, 2010, 11:14 pm

    I was going to ask about the double rainbow video too.

    And also, being that you are a theatre techie, please tell me you are a Firefly fan…

    Those two are connected, I promise.

    I have not seen the rainbow video, but I know he has his own app. I actually took a video of the rainbow just so you could see both ends of both rainbows, and then purposely didn’t put it up because I didn’t want people to think I was trying to copy that guy.

    Also, I have not seen Firefly, but the husband (also a tech) is a huge fan.

  • adriana October 12, 2010, 5:15 pm

    That’s so cool!

  • Kate (and Ben) October 13, 2010, 8:19 am

    This is sweet. But it’s even better because you’ve missed the internet phenomenon that is Epic Double Rainbow:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

    cheers!
    -K

  • Jelly October 13, 2010, 8:05 pm

    That’s absolutely beautiful!

    Well done on the running, I find that really hard. I started swimming instead, but there is a distinct lack of rainbows at the local pool.

    *sniff*

  • patience October 15, 2010, 11:20 am

    aww don’t feel bad about those saratoga kids running. i ran x-country for years, and everyone at our school was sure that they fed their runners performance drugs. their coach was my old science teacher, he was intense. …and um…lets just say…they take running and all their wins to a deep level, one you or i will never probably be able to attain because we weren’t hand picked and then sculpted by the science behind the perfect run.

    i love that park. i want to try and run, i was going to do a race but i am slightly depressed about running, going on year 2 or 3… because of the inflammation of the tendon…but i would really be down with running with you every so often if you wanted to.

    let me know.

    pretty rainbow.

    peace and blessings

    Actually, darlin’ it was YOU that inspired me to start running! When you blogged about possibly doing that race, something in me thought, “I’d like to do that, too! I betcha I could do that!” And that night I went out and ran for the first time. So thank you for inspiring the athlete in me. And I would LOVE to run with you sometime! (As long as you keep in mind that I am S-L-O-W still.)

  • natalie October 15, 2010, 8:11 pm

    um please tell me youve seen the double rainbow youtube video

  • giddyup October 25, 2010, 3:00 pm

    Good for you! You have some lovely countryside to run in and this is a great time of year to do it. Just watch out for old people falling down in your path–that was the beginning and the end for MIL.

  • Tiffany H October 31, 2010, 6:30 pm

    I’ve been trying to get into the habit too, but I still laugh at our lazy days in high school cross-country. Remember when we didn’t feel like running and decided to run to my house instead and hang out there acting like we were running.
    And now we wish we could have those bodies again! lol

    You wouldn’t believe how much those lazy days influence my running habits today! I’m so hyper aware of my lazy tendencies, so if I don’t run as far as I know I can, I feel like I’m cheating. Even if I really should take an easy day because I’ve run every day this week, I still feel like I have to run as far and hard as I can, otherwise I feel guilty!

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