For a few brief, blissful minutes last week I felt a wave of ease wash over me because I finally felt settled and content with my pleasant and productive everyday routine. Suddenly, the weekend crashed through the front door acting like the unannounced, drunk, obnoxious, unshaved stranger your friend’s friend invited to a meticulously planned dinner party ruining it before it even started.

Change happens. I guess that’s okay. It’s pointless to be afraid of it, or hide from it; rather it’s best to just face it and deal with it. When a routine disruption like this occurs, even if it provokes flailing about in a rage of frustration, the aim is always to steer through it with class and maturity, which for me, means first going for a run.

My favorite activity is running. Surprise, surprise. The fact is running always brings me back from the brink, so it is my "go-to" solution for stress relief, however, even though my steady crush and soulmate is the marathon, my first love were the sprints.

I believe sprinting is the most liberating sensation on the planet, because you let go, hang on, and push hard all at the same time until being instantly halted into an exhausted heap. Most of all, it’s really fun to run as fast as you can.

Serendipitously, my run workout last Sunday called for track intervals. YES….

I was in the kind of mood that only nostalgia and hard sprinting efforts could shed, so after I fed my dogs lunch, I hightailed out of the north valley wind tunnel that thwarted my bike ride the day before, and headed to Claremont to escape the wind and run the intervals on my high school track.

Back in my glory days, (over twenty years ago), we ran on a dirt track. But today, the track surface is not dirt…. Rather, it is made up of a poppy, plush rubber of some sort that acts more like a spring board than a grounded surface.

It is awesome.

I ran my first 200 quicker than I had in months, maybe longer, and kept running them with a controlled, fierce focus that brought on both excruciating pain, and absolute delight; my favorite mid-day cocktail.

Thankfully, the track was accessible because the football team was practicing and a soccer goalie clinic was going on in the infield. There were a few parents/spectators watching the kids from the stands, and I wondered if they were curious why one of their contemporaries was wielding her larger than average frame around the track like an eight year being chased by her psychotic older brother. I may have looked a little odd out there, I suppose most women my age don’t spend their Sunday’s sprinting around a high school track, but that has always been my favorite way to spend any day of the week.

After my run workout was finished, I still had a swim and strength workout to conquer before my day was complete. Luckily, I had an in to swim at one of the most beautiful pools in California. Next up was date with my mom at The Claremont Club.

Fun Fact: My mom, thee Madelynn Miller, is a fantastic swimmer. She grew up swimming and competing in Claremont, and I have encouraged her for years to get back into it because the club’s pool is ridiculous, and I know she’d love it. Sadly, she wasn’t able to join me in the pool during my recovery swim due to some upcoming allergy testing, but she did assume her role as my substitute swim coach and stood over me on the deck encouraging/telling me to practice my flip-turns. Thanks, Mom. I can’t wait to share a lane with you someday soon.:)

**My mom and her fav, err, youngest child.:)**

There are exciting times ahead, because this week is my favorite flavor, RACE WEEK!

I will be lining up at the Surf City Half Marathon again this Sunday, and I am PUMPED! I haven’t raced this distance since I ran the race last year, so I am excited to give it everything I have.

I can’t wait to let you know how it all goes next week.

In the mean time, take a listen to the song at the top of my iPod playlist, Silence, from Marshmello ft. the young superstar, Khalid.