This Week's Long Run

Long runs are one of my favorite parts of training. I just like to run long even though they can be really tough at times.

I was scheduled to do my long run today but I got to thinking yesterday. I am off the next 9 days due to a cleaning break at darling's school so I will be frequenting the Kids' Club a bit more often...or shall I say, darling daughter will be. So if I can save a day of fees, why not? Therefore, I got the inspiration to do my long run yesterday when dear hubby was in charge of child care duty. Makes sense, right?

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I posted on Daily Mile my desire to run outside, even in the intense wind. And I was on the edge of doing it until I realized I had no sunscreen in my car. Okay, not too serious. I could still wing it. Just get my water bottle. Hmmm, no water bottle? Common sense came over. No way should I tackle 12 miles in the middle of the day with no sunscreen and no water. And honestly, I had no desire to buy them since it defeats the purpose of running then to save money. So I headed over to the gym to my trusty treadmill located so close to that faithful water fountain.

When I started my run I was one of the few in the gym but that changed over the course of my run. People came, people left, and I kept running. I was even tempted to tell the guy to my right trying so hard to get the treadmill going to look at the sign on the treadmill stating it is broken right now. He figured it out and I didn't need to embarrass him. What would you have done? Would you have said something or just let him figure it out?

Back to the run....I was feeling pretty darn good and was doing an okay job of battling the boredom. Seriously, running outside is much more fun due to change of scenery, etc. But at about mile 9 my legs really started to complain some. Nothing too serious but I knew they weren't happy. This was kinda discouraging as I knew I ran a half marathon earlier this month at a faster pace. Here I am taking it slower and my body is unhappy? I told myself to keep running and started analyzing my recent runs. In the past 72 hours I had run 15.24 miles so it does make sense my legs are a bit tired going in. Plus I usually do an easy, short "rest day" run before my long run days. This run will only make me stronger, right?

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I ended up completing 12 miles in 1:48:49 with an average pace of 9'04". I know a few milliseconds ago you heard me complaining a bit about this run and how I felt but once I saw my final time I rejoiced in my odd way. 1:48:49.... Not only do I like the sequential 48, 49 but yesterday was day 148 of my streak and today is day 149. Am I reading too much into numbers? Perhaps, but it made me smile.

And today, on day 149, I ran my rest day mile at home at an incline. It was a slow mile but a happy mile since now my legs are feeling less cranky and they are ready to tackle the day.

Daily Gratitude: Instead of my normal gratitude I want to do a call out to an awesome lady and blogging friend who just completed her first marathon. Great job Megan!

Daily Affirmation: I have the courage to overcome any fear.