Ah, Nostalgia.

As I stepped out of the door to get rolling on my long run yesterday afternoon, I started up my Pandora as is tradition.

The song that came up first was 'Ghostwriter' by RJD2, and damn did that take me instantly back.

Flash to summer of 2005. I'm heading into freshman year of high school, and all I want to do is make the varsity team. I'm barely hanging on to the top guys on runs if at all (our #1 runner at the time was a 16:40 5k guy, so you get the picture of the 'top guys').

We run as a team 3 times a week, but the other 4 days are on our own. I have a simple concept - run as hard as I can during those non-team days and I'll beat everyone. I had JUST gotten an Ipod. A big fat 2nd generation thing with a click wheel. To me, it was god of all music. I find a nice 5 mile loop from my house with rolling hills, and just kill it to my hearts content. I find another 5.5 loop and I literally spend every day running one of those two as fast as my little 14 year old legs can carry me.

Why do I think of this now? Because the first song on that Ipod playlist that carried me through each run that summer was Ghostwriter, by RJD2.


I remember not liking running. I remember running because I was good at it, and wanted to prove to everyone that I could get a Varsity letter as a freshman (which, of course, was the MOST important thing at the time), and hating the solo runs.

I vomited at least 4 times a week that summer. My weakness has always been my aerobic capacity, and running 5 or 5.5 miles was honestly the absolute brink of what I could handle on a daily basis.

A week before our first meet, I ran the 5.5 mile loop at 6:59 pace, feeling fantastic. I could not believe it, you would've thought I had set a world record by my expression.

I made varsity the next week at our first race.


Flash back to Sunday, and all of the thoughts bounce around my head as I cruise along the tidal basin memorials in the DC sunset.

If you told me 6 years (and change) ago that I would be here, in DC, working full time and running 14+ mile runs as a typical Sunday, I would have thought you were crazy.

I don't know where I will be in 6 years. I don't know where my life will take me or who will and won't be in my life.

But I know I'll still be running. I know I'll still be finding those perfect sunset long run routes. I know I'll constantly be looking for ways to improve, to tweak my form, to absorb everything I can about this sport that I love.

As I finally finish up in the dark, humid, DC night I check my watch. 6:57 pace.

I wonder if my 6:15-6:25 pace base runs now will be my long run pace in 6 years.

I guess we'll see.