Sentimental pain

For reasons that defy logic and I can't begin to explain, I decided to run the East Hill Loop this evening after work.

The East Hill Loop was the staple run of the Wausau Hill Runners, a dedicated group of harriers that consisted of three Wausau Daily Herald staffers, Dave, Kyle and Me. We would attempt to meet Wednesday mornings before work at the Y. From there we would run up winding city streets that climb the hill on the East Side of Wausau.

For those not familiar with our little slice of paradise in central Wisconsin, the hill is steep climb out of the Wisconsin River Valley. It's not the Rockies of Colorado or the Palisades of NYC, but it is a steep pitch, maybe three quarters of a mile long.

Dave picked the run because he liked pain. So he would look for running routes that featured the best and longest hills. At first I hated him for this, but then, I too, grew to love the hills. My resurgence as a runner began on that hill, what, five years ago now?

Today I ran the four mile route in 36 minutes and 11 seconds. Since I can barely remember my times from the Hillrunners era, I'm not sure this is a personal record, but I think it is.

Dave, do you read this? Let me know.

Dave marked all the routes, found out their distance and kept track of all our times. He wore this old-school LCD stopwatch around his neck, thinking that it made him some kind of Bill Bowerman.

Of course Dave and Kyle kicked my ass up and down that hill. But I still loved it, and I missed them as I felt that clawing feeling in my lungs as I plodded toward the top of the hill.

And I especially missed sitting in a booth at The Mint after our runs, swilling coffee and gulping down the best corned beef hash in the world while solving the problems of the world, the city and the newspaper for which we worked.

The art of relaxation

The goals of this six-day "staycation" was to run, bike and to make some progress on building that basement laundry cabinet that has been in the works for the last seven months.

Oh, and I was supposed to make the dinners this week, too.

Along the way I had hoped to quaff coffee in the downtown coffee shop, take naps, read books and eat some food that is high in sugar and fat content.

I can say, at the start of my third day of this bout of R&R, that I've been successful on all fronts. Even made a dinner or two. (Granted, throwing hamburgers on the grill is pretty easy, and opening a bag of chips is more so, and Kris still whipped up a tasty side dish, but still...)

All those undertakings, however, were secondary, surface activities meant to help me realize the ultimate goal: To relax and recharge.

It would seem simple to take it easy, but that's not exactly the way I'm wired. I've taken these stay-at-home vacations before, and they've gone badly. I end up on the couch flipping through channels, looking for gumption to do anything but sit on the couch and flip through channels. At that point I usually turn to cookies and chips. And then I start thinking about all the things I should be doing. Then I started thinking about my life, and my career, and all the things I wanted to do but never quite got around to completing, or even starting. Then I end up in a worry loop of misery, with my stomach churning and my heart skipping beats every now and then.

I got close to the worry loop a couple of times, especially on the rainy days. But then I got up, and went out into the garage, and started fooling around with plywood and tools.

And it made me feel better.

The key to this staycation, I've found, is to find activities that allow some freedom of thought, but also require a sort of concentration on the task at hand.

A good strong drink after a bout of strenuous exercise seems to help, too.