The Hardest Day to Get Up = The Best Day to Get Up

I woke up this morning all out of sorts. I had a headache, I felt dehydrated and like I could sleep for another 4 hours and still not feel rested. I also had the longest run of my life (to date) on my training schedule. It felt like a recipe for disaster.

I honestly contemplated bagging it. Pushing the run off until Sunday. But then I thought about how bad I'd feel about myself all day long if I didn't go, and how good I'd feel if I did. Those thoughts plus quite a bit of water and some advil got me out the door 45 minutes later. A little less than two hours after that, I had done it! I ran 9.5 miles! 1.5 miles longer than I'd ever run before.

It really was a perfect morning to run. Bright blue skys, coolish breeze, not humid and beautifully sunny. I ran along the pier for most of the time and the water was sparkling, it was really beautiful.

I will admit to feeling pretty overwhelmed both before and during this run. I ran slowly and never pushed myself too hard, but I wouldn't say it was completely easy mentally either. About 4 miles in I realized I still had to run that distance again plus some more and I wanted to give up. But I just kept telling myself to think about the time/distance/calories burned in small increments because the amount left felt unmanageable. And it worked. Not to say it wasn't hard, it was, but I did it, and I didn't die at the end. In fact the last few miles were the easiest because I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and everything seemed a whole lot easier.

Here are the stats:

9.5 miles

1:59:01 total time

12:32 min/mile

149 avg heart rate

1104 calories burned

I seem to be keeping pretty steady with my 12:30(ish) runs for my long runs. But truthfully, I don't look at my time when I run other than when my garmin beeps to tell me another mile has past. I use my heart rate as a guide for the most part, and when things get really mentally tough (like they did on this run) I also use calories burned - i.e. run for 15 calories burned, walk for 10 calories burned. It helps to break up the monotony. When I run like this on long runs I seem to be fairly steady with my 12:30 pace, but I have to prepare myself that it might get slower as things go on, because the long runs just keep getting longer, and not hurting myself is infinitely more important than keeping any given pace.

I am planning to treat myself to some vegan chocolate chip cookie dough this evening as a reward for burning so many calories (and for getting myself out of bed this morning) - and yes, it's good, I would consider myself a cookie dough connoisseur and this stuff passes the test (and no eggs, so it won't make me sick!)