Running With Benefits...

Sunday morning I woke up too early, or at least too early for having celebrated a friend's birthday the night before, to the prospect of an all-day board meeting. Not that the board meeting, per se, was something to dread, it was, after all, for a non-profit, The Possibility Project, about which I can't say enough good things. It was more the idea of sitting still and paying attention all day, on a weekend. I didn't have the heart to get up early enough to squeeze in a run before heading up to the meeting (which was going to take some time by subways and buses), but then I thought--what else is running for, if not to get me there?

I run a lot. But not in a useful way. As in, running is almost always an end in itself--to stay in shape...for...well, for more running. Why not put my running to actual use? Earn it's keep, as it were. So I packed up a little backpack with my meeting notes, a change of clothes, and other quick-change essentials like eye cream (yes, I am a girl), and headed up to the meeting on foot.

How wonderful. With every step I cleared out the cobwebs. Then came the real bonus, as I ran into the northernmost reaches of the island of Manhattan, places I'd never been before, and over the Broadway bridge into Riverdale, more places I'd never seen up close. The map I'd studied before leaving came to life, as 218th street showed its face. Oh, and note to self, flat street maps miss key information, like the fact that there are very very steep hills as you run up and out of Manhattan.

And the meeting?--relaxed and focused = productive.

I call that running with benefits.