SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP

Pretty quiet week after the Miami Half Marathon. I didn't run again until Thursday night at the gym. That gym run on the treadmill was a slight wake-up call for me. While my legs did feel the aftermath of a decent half marathon effort, by Thursday night they were ready to go. And my pace wasn't the issue, it was the fact I chickened out and ran three miles inside when I should have been doing at least that, if not more, outside.

I have long complained about the "the cold, the wet, and the dark." For a long time my rallying cry was that I could handle two out of three, but once all three were in effect I didn't have to feel guilty about throwing in the towel. Normally during the winter this means rain. Rain running can but fun and refreshing but it is very hard to get yourself out there. Regardless, it was not raining Thursday. It was actually very pleasant outside, a very mild 52 degrees and dry as a Mormon wedding. However, for some reason, I balked at the dark and started running on the treadmill.

Tonight's tempo run at PRC.

Almost as soon as I started running on the treadmill I felt silly. I should have been outside and not bored out of my skull on the treadmill. I even plotted a four mile route from the gym so I could do a loop and do weights after. It was stupid. Luckily Katie showed up to provide some company. Anyways, I felt motivated on Saturday to make up for this "slacking" by either doing more miles than I wanted (ten) or do them faster than I wanted (eight miles at 8:45/mile). I met with Katie and Matt and we ended up doing the ten miles. The company was nice, but the run still kind of sucked. However, it was good to get it done and feel like I didn't slack off.

Transition that into tonight. I was thinking of running fast to get some speedwork in before Zena this weekend. Fate have it, I was late to run group due to traffic and could see the group leaving as I waited at a light. I started a good two minutes after them and ended up running a tempo run to catch up. Once I caught up the group quickly broke apart to do different distances, so Matt and I decided to do five but keep it under 8:00/mile. All told it was five miles at 7:50/mile on hilly terrain and it felt good. My legs almost have a spring in their step. We'll see if this new found motivation lasts, but hopefully it will result in good effort at Zena. It will almost certainly be a PW at the distance, but as long as I give it my all there is nothing to be ashamed about.