November 6, 2016 BAD DAY

All runs are NOT created equal. Saturday's run was AWFUL--today's not so bad. It doesn't  help that I was making "merry"  a little too much Friday night. When will I ever learn???  Probably NEVER, but it's all good. I generally have my best runs first thing in the morning. The runs later in the day are more challenging--sometimes I don't eat enough and feel light headed when I run--other days I drink too much--coffee/water REALLY--and feel like I am running on a full bladder--which leads to several problems--use your imagination. Some days my legs and body feel light as a feather while on others I feel as if I weigh 400 pounds and every step is TORTURE. I wish I could figure out the magic formula to make all runs equal, but maybe not. I think it's important  to experience difficult runs so that I  CAN really appreciate the beauty of the IDEAL run--when my body feels like a machine and all the pistons are functioning at an optimum level-- it  seems so easy on those days. THE RUNNER'S HIGH.  It's perfection. It's what keeps me going.  This whole idea of good days and bad days is relative, especially, for the main character in Anna McParthlin's wonderful book, The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes. 
Mia "Rabbit" Hayes has a great life. She has a wonderful family, great friends and a beautiful daughter. She has

a lot to live for, but the reality we are faced with from page one is that Rabbit is dying and she is okay with it. Set in Ireland, this is a sad but also very funny story of a quirky family facing tragedy and their different ways of handling it. Told from multiple viewpoints, we come to know and love Rabbit's whole family--her strong very Irish mother, Molly, her sad helpless father Jack, her sister, brother, daughter and hysterical best friend. The story is about Rabbit's current life but also flashes back to her younger life-- growing up as the youngest in her family to her one and only true love, Johnny Hayes. This part of the book is fun and eases the tension in her current life. This is a story about strength as Rabbit gives her family the strength to let her go. It is also about finding the courage to laugh and find joy even in tragedy. I absolutely loved this book and will never forget it.  Take a hop into this amazing novel--it's an easy read of about 335 pages--only a 4 mile run--worth every second. Happy Reading.