Pain & Bliss

Funny, normally people don't think of pain and bliss put together or being felt together. Unless you're a masochist. Which I'm not. So don't go thinking I felt these two together, because I didn't. Geez. What are you thinking?

Pain

This morning I woke up at 6:25 (the worst idea to do on a Saturday morning after a 40-hour workweek) and began getting ready for a run. The run. The longest run of my life (so far). At 7:10 Trevor, Angie, and I started our 6-mile run at Utah Lake. It was much more...umm...less-hard than I thought it would be (the word "easier" carries connotations way too flowery and happy to be had here and would mask the difficulty that is running for an hour straight.) We enjoyed ourselves during our exercise hour by talking more than we ever have during a run, wishing dozens of people good morning (who else exercises at 7am on a Sat?!? Oh, and I didn't greet anything non-human today - it's progress), and enjoying the sounds, smells, and sights of the Provo River basically right next to us the entire time. Also there are tons of Cottonwoods everywhere, so in some parts it looked like it had snowed given all the white fluff everywhere covering the grass, dirt, and sometimes leaves and branches. At least that's what it looked like blind. Yes, I was blind again. But during the daylight hours additional pain is kept at a minimum. Thank heavens. ;)

Bliss

After the run we took quick showers, got somewhat ready, and picked up Jess and headed over to the Utah College of Massage Therapy for...yep, you guessed it. Tuba lessons. Ha! Bet you thought I was gonna say "massages." Well, I didn't. But I will now. Massages. Or in Spanish: masajes. Which should never be confused with "mensajes," which unfortunately is confused among almost all Spanish-speaking missionaries at least once, often leading to awkward moments which bond investigators to missionaries and vice versa. i.e.: "Hi, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we've come to share a massage. May we come in?" Oh, the memories... :'-)

But where was I? Oh, yeah, UCMT. So, we head over there with Jess and took advantage of their 2-for-1 deal THIS WEEKEND ONLY (which actually happens a few times a year, so don't worry - you can go next time with us). And oh, were those lovely. A full hour of a full body massage, fully wonderful. I actually got daring this time (it was my second time) and let them do my glutes. My reasoning behind this (haha, behind) was because I've been running for the last month and a half, and I think my butt deserves some pampering. And my hamstrings, quads, and calves. Oh, it was good. :)

The rest of the day was fun too, but that massage was the culminating activity. Of the day. The week. Hey, maybe even the whole month! It was that good. You should try it :)