Internal and External Hills (Basins of Potential)

So much of my experience of running recently has been thinking around the route.

View Larger Map
The problem here is that if I want to run up any of the North facing roads toward Broadway (which, as a road with a light rail line, is fairly flat), I have to go across a bit of a valley which stresses the ankle at the start and the end of the run. A real headache. Going directly South involves going down a hill steep enough that, if we were to line it with aluminum, children would pay to slide down it. That pretty much leaves West as the most tenable direction. But for me, running is often about trying new routes, etc., and until my ankle is not problematic anymore, it's kind of boring to always run up Espy.

OK. Now I'm just whining.

Thinking about Brian's statement about runners as masochist. There might be something to that. The thing to remember, I think, is that at least in part the masochism is to the end of enjoying your running later. At some point, when the initial struggle is over, running for me feels good in a way that is somewhat similar to stretching. Maybe one way to put it is that, for me, running can lead to a pleasure inherent in pushing the internal boundaries to make myself bigger, to enlarge my experience. On the other hand, maybe that's what's going on with masochists as well.

It's Father's Day. I don't know what's in the plans, but I'm looking forward to whatever awaits. Happy Father's Day, bro. I'm proud of you for all of those boundaries you've broken.