After having a miserable attempt at a 20 mile run Sunday I took it pretty easy on Monday. I went to the gym and hit the weights. No real cardio at all as I wanted to rest my ankle and I was looking at 9 more miles for today (Tuesday). I also spent the day doing stuff around the house to take my mind off running. Because of my not wanting to obsess over how crappy of a long distance runner I am, I have a nicely mowed lawn, a sparkling clean car, clean siding on my house, the overgrowth of weeds just behind my property treated with weed killer and a gigantic watermelon chopped down to bits and slices.
But the 9 miler was lurking over me all day. And since I don't have time to run that far in the afternoon I set the alarm for good ol' 4:00 am this morning.
When I woke up before the alarm at 3:45 I started to go through the motions to prep for my run and thought about why I was doing this. I couldn't really come up with an answer. It crossed my mind to just say forget it and crawl back into bed, but I know the times you least want to work out are the times you most need to, so off I went.
Truth is, I had a great run. 9 miles in 1:16:53 for an 8:33 pace, and I think I was that slow because it was a pretty hilly route. My achilles was a little achy but not quite enough to be continuously noticeable and I don't believe it hindered me except for when I was going up the steepest parts of a couple hills.
So here I am primed to run a fast (for me) half marathon yet lined up to run the whole enchilada. D'oh. I can only hope to still be alive on the evening of October 11, I guess.
You can tell it's fall endurance sports season around here because even at the pre-rooster time I was out running there were others out there too. I ran past 4 or 5 other runners and 2 or 3 cyclists. All of us prepping for some ridiculous thing or another in the coming months, I'm sure.
And let me say this now: I have lowered myself to wearing a reflective vest when I run in the dark, but I promise here and now that no one will ever see me running with a flashlight on my head like THREE of the people I saw with them on this morning. I'm running. I'm not mining for coal.
Today was the second time I started and ended a run in complete darkness. But the weather was fantastic. Mid 50s and low humidity. Also, darkness hides the hills until you get to them. I kind of like that.
Still, I really am a moron for doing this whole thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment