What's the opposite of craptacular?

How can I go from shit to shinola in one day? I don't know, but it happened.

Today was arguably the most perfect day ever, weather-wise, and my run was pretty close.

The day began early, at 7 a.m. Up, shit, shower, & shave (thanks Dad for the phrase that goes through my head every morning), therapy, package up the now-replaced glucose meter, out the door for a 10 a.m. meeting with the nurse running the CF/GERD study. What a beautiful morning! The air smells fresh and clean - I mean really clean. My lungs feel good and my legs don't hurt too much from the last four days of running. Morning muffin tasted good; coffee tasted good; smooth pleasant subway ride sans loony homeless people.

After the visit with the nurse, I decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and go for a run in Central Park. For the first time in ages, I used NYRR's facilities to change and store my stuff while I ran. I did the middle loop - 4 miles - and knew from the start that today was going to be something special. It was well over half a mile before I slowed to a walk, and only walked for a minute. I think I walked six or seven times the whole run, each time for a very short amount of time. As I dealt with the Harlem Hills, I made it most of the way up most of them - and all the way up the rest of them!

I was surrounded by people enjoying the park, including a group of tourists on rental bikes waiting at a red light. I passed them just as the light turned green and they started pedaling. I thought about that for a moment, then turned around and told them the lights don't apply to bikes, just cars. Turns out they're Italian (I think), so I restated in simple nouns that hopefully translated well.

In the downhill mile on the west side, the run was just great. I paused long enough to get some water at a fountain, as I'd not brought any with me. I made the turn on to the 72nd street crossover and found the strength to just keep going. Cat Hill, though, I walked up much of the way. Just as I was getting ready to run at the bobcat statue, I heard my name and here comes my friend Marci, whom I first met at last year's NY Marathon expo. We listen to the same podcast. It was great chatting with her and she decided to accompany me on my last 3/4 miles back to Engineer's Gate. That was a good way to end my run. I don't have any breath to spare for chatting while running, but I managed to keep the pace strong and finished the 4 miles well.

It was great to see Marci, and the whole run was just one of those rare runs where everything was going right: it was the perfect storm of good weather, good lungs, willing legs, Tylenol taken about half an hour before, and having no time table to keep. Just fantastic.

I extended my time outdoors by changing at NYRR then walking down 5th ave to the N train. I was hungry, so I checked my blood sugar and purchased a "pizza" pretzel. I was pleased to see my blood sugar was a perfect 80 post-exercise (it had hit 382 earlier in the day), but the pizza pretzel was no great shakes. No big deal; just wanted something to fill the belly before dinner.

I will either rest tomorrow or go low-impact with some stationary bike and weights. Probably that. Can't gain weight without weights. Friday is definitely rest day, as Saturday is slated to be a total of 11 miles, mix of running and walking.