10. Equilibrium is only a run away

I've been pulling my hair out trying to find a profound lesson from running to finish my top 10. I was set to copy Spencer, whose number 1 -- running is supposed to be fun -- sort of says it all. But Spencer said that, and he was and is right. My top lesson (which I've assigned number 10, not being enough of a Letterman fan to get the order right) is that running takes a tough week and sets the world right.

Last week was a tough week, for reasons that are a little unclear to me. Not teaching is amazingly stressful, because I have no good reason not to be producing a lot. I owe one friend a draft that I promised, well, too long ago to admit. I enjoyed a great trip to Chicago, with a top notch symposium put on by the Loyola Consumer Law Review. But my talk, which went about the way I wanted it to, was probably more of a colloquium talk than a symposium talk. The landing at National Airport was exciting, for a euphemism, and I'm a little edgy in an airplane in the best of circumstances. And I've been off on my training program, a run or two behind for the week, and in danger of falling into one of those ruts from which it's hard to get back out for some good miles.

Not long after noon I laced up the hyper speeds and followed Military into Rock Creek, then down the hill on Ridge Road to the start of Beach Drive. Up Beach all the way, over the ridge where Wise Road intersects, then back down into the creek valley, picking up the bike trail. Followed that across East-West Highway and up past the beltway, then back left on the Beach Drive horseshoe, heading west across Montgomery County. (This part was new to me -- I ride up here regularly, but running past East West is very rare, and I've never made it to this part of Beach Drive.)

Beach intersects Connecticut, which I followed south into Kensington, then back west on the Capital Crescent Trail to Bethesda. From there, south on Wisconsin to the DC line and follow Western back to my hood. Finally, a little loop through the neighborhood to catch a few hills and add a mile or so before returning home. Didn't have my watch -- I would have guessed a bit over 2 hours -- and mapmyrun.com suggests it was 16.5 miles. The result, of course, is that any worries -- what were they, again? -- have melted away.

I think I'll spend the rest of the day with a beer and a pad of paper for brainstorming. Maybe if I get lucky I'll fall asleep. That's equilibrium for you.