How's your crow?

Skirt Sports Redemption Shorts First Run--Sweet! 

There's this great scene in the movie Hook where Robin Williams' character, Peter Pan, has grown up and forgotten how to crow. The Lost Boys spend an inordinate amount of time in the film trying to get him to remember how to crow, and when he finally does, he can not only crow but he can fight and fly. 

To extend the metaphor (but not to ally myself with a Disney villain or anything), there's a scene in Disney's new film Descendants where Ursula the sea witch's daughter, Uma, sings a song about her crow--"My crow's as real as it gets!"That line gets me every time. 

Both of these scenes popped into my head today as I was out running in the heat. Peter Pan grows up and forgets how to crow. Then he finds it again. I periodically lose my crow; I beat myself about not getting a run in, and I lose a bit of my swagger. I pay too much attention to my watch, and I beat myself up about running too slowly. I think back on races I ran and the shape I was in. I forget that my crow is the same. 

Lately, when I find myself alone on a run on a back road, and the road is curving up to challenge me, and the wind is nowhere to be found, and the asphalt is giving off heat, and I need a little bit of a push, I crow. Like out loud. Loudly. Sometimes multiple times. I imagine it's not all that unlike Serena Williams' yell at a serve or Robin Williams' crow when he finds it. Shouldn't we all have such a thing? 

Crow on, friends.