Today’s run: 10.03 miles, 1:48:33 minutes, plus .4 cooldown.  YT: 580.74. Weekly Total: 23.18. The last mile of this was a very long mile indeed.

It’s not such a hard thing to run 1000 miles in a year. It’s only hard when you live on a hopping, bar-packed block on the Lower East Side, in a city where the only true pastime of the 20-40 set seems to be boozing away their petty anxieties while draped in chic clothing. It gets harder when you happen to be a person with a natural weakness for wine and all it represents, with a minor self-disruptive tendency, and with her own tidy little stash of petty anxieties (but alas, a shortage of chic clothing).

I was chewing over the question of whether to really fight for the 1000 miles the other day, and my friend suggested I look for a sign to guide me. Two hours later, in my usual state of oblivion to my immediate surroundings (which doesn’t improve after a couple glasses of wine, which I had had), a trashtruck backed into my leg while I was standing in a crosswalk. (What trashtruck backs through an intersection into a crosswalk??) It moved slowly and stopped just exactly when it hit my leg. The only damage was a long purple bruise. If it had been going just a little faster, or stopped a little slower, I might not have run 10 miles today.

When I asked the universe for a sign, I was thinking some more along the lines of a gentle dove flying past my head, whispering, “runnnn Sara runnnnnnn.” Or arriving home one day, and finding that some cool company had sent me a brand new pair of running shoes, for no particular reason.

Instead, I got hit by a trash truck. But I’ll take it. It certainly got my attention and reminded me that mobility is a gift. I ran 23 miles this week. Can I run 30 next week? Elodie doesn’t know it but she gave me some hope in her recent post on cross-training, by talking about how she feels more comfortable at 30 weekly miles than 20. Can I get there?

I don’t know, but last night I did something I literally haven’t done in years: I ordered a seltzer water.

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Expect to see more posts on creativity and the creative process. I’ve grown bored talking about running.

First, awesome: John Cleese on creativity! “I want to be as well-informed as I possibly can when I die.”

I also came across this piece from Joel Friedlander, 18 Ways to Think about Creativity. The one I need to hear most:

Doing something worthwhile takes time—and training and preparation and resolve. You need to have some steel inside to see a big project through to the end.