Any. Time. Any. Where.

At a rehearsal dinner in Richmond, Virginia, on Friday night, I took the edge off a 5 hour drive and an entire workday crammed into 6AM-10:30AM with just shy of a bottle of Cabernet and half of a poorly-constructed martini.  The next morning, although not as rough as you would imagine, was not a seamless transition into the day. 

However, after three cups of coffee, eggs and country ham, the 6 miles I had to run, before the Wedding kicked back up again, did not seem unattainable. 

And so I set out, garmin strapped to my left wrist, into a half-built corporate park with roads, I quickly found, that ended as abruptly as they began.   After a mile, I was bored, unfocused and running, quite literally, in circles.  Stretching and a little anxious about completing the task at hand, I decided to run across a bigger highway than I'd originally thought and down by the University of Pheonix - Richmond Satellite.  This was a good move.  Hilly.  But a good move nonetheless.  I ran by completely deserted office parks, ungroomed college buildings, neighborhoods of thirty-somethings out gardening, strip malls and yoga studios with signs reading "Namaste" every few blocks.   Apparently Richmonders like their yoga. 

Down streets that turned into dirt roads so subtly you hardly noticed the dust cloud kicking up behind you, I saw kids out playing basketball on four-foot nets and others, chalk-in-hand, dismantling a sidewalk. 

I ultimately turned around in this neighborhood, at a chainlink fence keeping three large dogs from joining by jog, flew back across the highway and safely into the hotel parking lot with 6 more miles in my pocket and down one hangover!

This isn't the first time I've run in less than perfect weather, conditions or health and I'm sure it will not be the last; I'll chalk it up to proof that this sport of ours is equally as mental as it is physical and we are all the better for it.