Romantics--What I Like About You

 The final sprint was nearly as fast as I can ever remember.  47.39.  After the last pull-up set, at the new bars, I turned my iPod to a playlist called “__running”.  I put the underscores before the word so it will show up at the top of the list of playlists.  I do this because I cannot see without my glasses, and I don’t wear my glasses when I’m running.  In the playlist, I skipped Adele, Rubberband Man, Roy G. Biv, and a couple others, down to What I Like About You  by the Romantics.  Immediately upon hearing the first notes, my feet grew jets.  I could hardly control their exuberance.  I ran as far as the light pole, scrambling to find for solid placement for my steps before the next one demanded to fall.  During the sprint, even though it was less than a minute and I charged out of the gate like a thoroughbred, I still had time to recognize that I could push myself faster.  When I am getting results that are so close to the limits of my ability, the differences are surely all in the mind.  What is keeping me from running faster?  Is it just my perceived tiredness?  There are surely times when I finish and I am more tired.  What does it feel like to be at the limit of one’s tiredness? 
 This morning, my watch reminded me to get up at 6:00.  This was an hour after the cat had let itself in by opening the screen to snuggle and sleep with me.  After waking, I went over to the computer in an effort to see if I had been offered a job in the last 5 hours while everyone in my part of the world was sleeping (fat chance).  Then I noticed that instead of 6:05, the time was 7:05.  I must have drifted off to sleep again.  This little hiccup was the first wrench in my morning that MAY have influenced my speed.  I went immediately to the door and congratulated myself for having the forethought to wear running clothes to bed.  Then the second potential spoiler in the day arrived when my wife came back from her run and said, “You’re going NOW?!?”  I guess she forgot her request to me the night before that I not go until she came back.  She got over it quickly when I said that I would be back in 30 minutes or so.