Several false starts on posts that never got past the draft. I am on vacation. Yay! Summer is winding down, the kids are finishing up their summer jobs and thus ending the juggling that happens with 4 people working 4 different schedules with 2 cars. Dropping one off at 6:30 in the morning, I then would head off toward work and stop at the gym for a quick 30 minute workout then into the shower and off to work. A great use of time but limiting in the workouts.

This morning, with no place special to go and the cars gone, I headed out for a long run. Not sure how long but a general idea of where.. There is a 10k race that I have done several times, the Brocktot,   It starts in downtown Lenox and loops around the back roads to Tanglewood then off more back roads ending up at the back gates of Shakespeare & Company. It has a good amount of hills and I have often run from my house to the starting spot and then run the first half, which easily gets me up to 7 miles. Those runs are always easier than the route on the day of the race and today I discovered why.  The back half is the real killer. I just assumed I was tired by the I got there but today I started off in a direction that brought me to the end line and from there it was up and down hills to Tanglewood, at which point I was wiped and decided to make the most direct way home. It had been well over an hour.

As I approached the back side of Tanglewood and the 20 foot hedges I could hear music in the distance. Saturday morning is rehearsal for the Saturday night performance and people buy either lawn or shed tickets just as they would a performance. As I got closer I could make out the very distinct melodies of a John Williams piece. Ah hah... We were at the symphony last night for a for a performance of Aaron Copeland and Beethoven and noticed that tonight was the Boston Pops and it was in fact a John Williams program. As he was conductor of the Pops for many years, these shows are very popular here and this year they are celebrating his 80th birthday as part  of a 75th anniversary (for Tanglewood). I poked my head in the gate and while I wasn't about to but a ticket to get in, I could catch a view of lots of folks sitting on the lawn and could listen to some of the music.  Jogging a little further I sat up against the hedge and enjoyed a few pieces before heading into town and out towards home. This bit of music is one of those gems that you can stumble upon around here in the summer. In the end the run ended up to be 9.87 miles and as I neared home I was feeling every hill.

We are getting into home stretch around here with the youngest heading off to college next week (sniff-sniff) and the eldest splitting time between doing an internship in NYC for part of the week and then back in Boston for classes. That is when it will become really quiet around here. I have written before about this and the roller-coaster of feelings. The challenge I think is that there is no easing into it, in fact there is this enormous ramp up with all that needs to happen and at the top of the ramp, they take flight and you are left with this void to redefine and fill.  All part of life. 

Onward and onward....................