Let's start where it ended.

 This has become my favorite view.  I have at least a hundred pictures from this exact spot, no two are alike, all are beautiful for different reasons.  This is the Philadelphia skyline as seen from the South Street bridge.  I waited (not so) patiently as the bridge was rebuilt, watched in awe as the boardwalk grew out over the water, and watched numerous buildings stretch into the skyline over the past 14 years.  At any given time, there could be one, two, even three cranes blemishing my beautiful skyline pictures.  There is actually one in this picture as well.

 

This morning (7/31) was my last run over this bridge. It's not the last time I will see this view, nor the last time I will be on foot on this bridge...but I am no longer going to be running to see the sunrise, or the sunset, or the perfectly blue sky, or the really incredible clouds as seen from this bridge. 

There were times where I just felt like I needed to see the sunrise.  I would set my alarm, run the 1.1 miles from my house to this spot, see what I needed to see, and run the miles home to fall back asleep. 

Maybe that takes a special kind of weird, but it was something I did and running here is what I loved.

So on my last run, I felt it was only fitting to run to see the sunrise.

It was not the most beautiful one I have ever seen but it was everything I wanted it to be.

I ran down the boardwalk and had to sit down and cry it out. 

I was (am) just so sad about having to make this decision.

But it is the smart, responsible, healthy decision for me, and the fact that I am able to do that, speaks volumes about how much I care about myself, how much I value my health and well-being, how much I want to be a whole person.

So all of this 'deciding to hang up my running shoes' is one big double edged sword.  I am sad and in actual physical pain because of my knee, and at the same time realizing that I am the healthiest I have ever been.

Life is weird that way. 

Once I get tired of remembering and writing about all things running, I hope to have something else I enjoy almost as much, that brings amazing people into my life, and helps make me a better person, the way that running has.

New goals: I really want to learn (get strong enough) to do a pull-up.  I never have done one, pretty much assumed I was never going to be able to, and resigned myself to that. 

But wait, that's what I thought about running many, many years ago...

I'm not built like a runner, I am not fast on my feet at all, I'll never beat anyone in a race, so I'll not even try to be a runner (and here I go talking about running again when I was trying to change the subject).

So, back to being able to do a pull-up...yeah, so that's my new goal.

And right now I feel like it would be harder for me to do one pull-up than go for a 20 mile run!