Did you ever have one of those moments?

Have you ever had one of those moments when everything just seems to be right? I hope that if you think for a moment a few will come to mind right away. The moments cover all aspects of my life: my family, triathlon and even work. What they all have in common is that single moment when you know it cannot get any better.

Seven years ago, I was sitting with my wife in a small thatch roof bar on a remote island in French Polynesia. The sun was setting and the sky was a brilliant shade of red. The trade winds were blowing just enough to cool you off from the late afternoon heat. The view was of the open ocean and a small island in the distance. It was perfect.

Moments like those are what keep me going day after day, and yesterday I was lucky enough to have another one. My training schedule called for a quick run consisting of 2 one-mile repeats. As I left work, I found myself surprised by the near-perfect weather. It was 65 degrees with a slight wind. I made my way to the local college track to find that the track team was finally moving outside for the season. I have been running along with them throughout the last few months and they generally let me be. However, the more I see them, the more exchanges we have. "Keep it up. Nice job." These little exchanges help you along when you are trapped on the track doing a set of 1000-meter repeats alone in the dark of winter. As I jogged around the track for my warm up, I felt transported back in time to my collegiate track days. The camaraderie, the hard workouts, they brought out the best of you. It was an amazing time in my life and now it was like I had never left. As I lined up for my first mile, one of my "A+" workout songs came on and I was off.

I was running effortlessly. Maybe it was the weather, maybe the peering eyes of the track coaches, I am not sure what it was, but I really felt good. As I rounded the far turn of my first lap, I looked up to a beautiful sunset. I looked at my watch at the 1/4 mile and holy crap. I was aiming for 86sec quarters for a 5:44 mile. Well, 1/4 number one ---77 sec! Wow, I hope my legs don't actually fall off my body. I did my best to slow down a little bit but my legs just wanted to run. At the half, my time was on pace for a 5:22 mile. It felt so good that I just kept going. Some of the others on the track would give me word of encouragement as I went by, and that only fueled my desire to finish that mile. I finished winded, but not spent. A quick look at my watch: 5:24! 5:24 -- I don't know the last time I ran a mile that fast. The smile on my face must have been a mile wide.

Enough of the happy-fest. I had one more mile to go and now I only had 1:30 of rest left. A quick recovery jog and I was off again. I was certain that the next mile would be slow. There was only so much my legs could take. However, as I ran, something amazing was happening. I just kept feeling better. My mind began a review of every good workout or race that I could remember. My legs just kept moving. The weather was perfect, the atmosphere remarkable and in some way I was 17 years younger, running with youthful exuberance and not a care in the world.

And then it was over. My workout and that perfect moment had passed. As I cooled down running through campus, I thought about my run and how truly nice it was. I can only hope that as I continue to live I will have more and more of these moments in every aspect of my life. They are what really keep me coming back for more.

If anyone is wondering, the last mile, it was 5:20.

Enjoy the moment,


JTG