How high is an elephant's eye?

I offered to walk Eileen to school again this morning. She agreed but reminded me that she had a pumpkin for the teacher that I would have to carry. I'm picturing one of those little pumpkins that you draw a face on with a sharpie and set on the window sill so I said sure. When I saw the darned thing it was huge! And heavy. So I lugged the dang thing the 1/2 mile to the school and then Eileen takes it up to the teacher like she carried it the whole way! I know, I know, I'm a great dad!

I left the school for my run and decided that should probably stick to a known route since I could tell the mind would be wandering due to the MARVELOUS - FANTASTIC - STUPENDOUS - UNBELIEVABLE weather! Sure enough, about a mile in I started singing Oh What A Beautiful Morning from Oklahoma then began trying to determine exactly how high IS an elephant's eye anyway. Before I knew it I was on the final mile of a 9 mile run just clicking along.

I just read Keith's post about his battle with what I call PMS (Post Marathon Syndrome). Lack of a real desire to run and even less to talk about in a blog that has focused mainly on running are the main syptoms he mentions. My only advice to runners suffering from this malady is this: Go for a run. Don't map out a route. Don't take a watch. Just put on your favorite shoes and go run. Tomorrow if you feel like going for a run, go for a run. If not, don't worry about it. If I can get myself out the door for at least 3 runs in 5 days I find that I begine to gain perpective on the root cause of my own PMS. It may be the result of a disappointing result. It may be the result of a great race where I actually made my goal and can't figure out what to do next. Surprisingly, I have found that I carry around a lot of guilt after a marathon. Run poorly and I feel guilty that I let my coach and teammates down. Run great and I feel guilty that I had a good race when some of my best friends in the world did not. Once I figured out it was guilt, I was able to put that aside and get back to what I truly love: the quest for that one GREAT RUN!