Day 341

I left the dog and jogged away. I left a plan and jogged away.
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There was something energizing about this morning. It was overcast but in a good way: it wasn't a depressing opaque and heavy grey that sucks ATP and dreams, but a steelier, sleeker, almost chrome-like grey: we didn't turn the sun on because this is a busy day and you have to get out, get moving and do things; stuff will get done today. As soon as I got outside, I felt the energy. An added goad was the dropping temps and absence of dog. He was sleeping in. This was going to be a serious run and he wasn't interested in participating.

Still, I moved pretty slowly. The original plan was to run 11 miles: out along the Canal for 5.5 miles and back. The first two miles were fine and then I started to feel tired. I remembered that I've been feeling most tired 2 days after resistance exercises and contemplated reattempting the long run tomorrow. A mile later, I figured that I wasn't sore and I wasn't getting sore. It was just a lead leg kind of thing. I had done already three miles, I might as well do a couple more and then turn around.

I ran out of path early...sort of. The path veered and went on and I followed it. 5.5 miles was an inauspicious spot to turn around so I went on. I decided to take a certain route but the path was under construction so I went on. The Garmin blipped 6, 7, 8 miles in seemingly quick succession.

And then I hit the ice. There had been ice before, a patch here and there, but then the path became all ice. Shortly before it, I met two runners who told me I'd probably want to turn around because of the ice. This intrigued me. I went on, the ice was too slippery to run on probably because I was wearing old trail shoes, which suited the grass beside the path. The potential to slip was still there, though, which was engaging. For a mile or so, I was fully present. I wasn't thinking of anything except where to put my feet. This was the same sort of mindset that kicks in when rock scrambling or whatever--it was mentally tiring but exciting, too, and such a relief and a bore to return to a bare flat path. I guess I was at about nine miles at this point, and starting to get sore and starting to ponder the best way to get home, not too short, not too long. I was on the wrong side of the river and came to a footbridge, but it felt too sudden, too soon, and I ended up running to the next bridge and a bit longer than anticipated.

At a red light, I stopped my timer at exactly 2:05:00. It was a sign to stop and walk the rest of the way home. And then the sun came out! Briefly, but definitely.

Total jogged: 12.62 miles, most of which were under 10:00/mile, but barely! It was about miles not pace anyway, but it's interesting to observe what my long run pace is. I'm still getting used to the routine, speedwork and resistance exercises on Wed and Fri; I'm going to keep that up for another week and then drop back for a couple of weeks to rest for the Hypo 1/2. It's very reassuring to have run 12.6 miles already! This makes next week's long run less daunting. If I want to run for two hours again, sure, but it doesn't seem as necessary anymore.