Going the Distance, Not Going for Speed

My run the other morning sucked. Really, REALLY sucked. And I can't even blame it on Beckett's tugging—I was running by myself.

I know why it sucked; there's actually 2 reasons. Firstly, Keith and I had gone out to eat and to a movie the night before, in celebration of our anniversary. So I had eaten entirely too much of the wrong kinds of food, and not drunk nearly enough water. Secondly, it was supposed to be an 8-mile run.

Back in the days before this half-marathon training program, that would have been considered a looooong run. The kind that is undertaken at one's leisure on a weekend day, with no pressing appointments scheduled for the several hours following. Just in case things don't go as planned.

But now, apparently, 8 miles is just an early morning, pre-work jog distance. So I found myself setting off about 5:40am, admiring the stars still clearly visible in the not-yet-morning sky.

I was pretty proud of myself for even going at all. But that didn't last long. Soon, fatigue and general feelings of crappiness were setting in. My calves started to tingle—the kind of sensation you usually get if your legs are falling asleep. I didn't think that was a good sign. By mile 5 or so, throwing up was a distinct possibility. Soon thereafter, I checked my mp3 player to see that, although far short of the distance, I had used up my allotted time. I was going to be late for work. Again.

So I packed it in and headed home. And berated myself the entire way, and for the rest of the day. I was so disappointed that I quit! But I didn't really see anything else for it. Even with quitting, I was a half-hour late to work. This is the problem with early-morning runs.

But the good news is that, this morning, I set off at 5:30am to do the same thing. Last night I had eaten better and drank plenty of water, and I was determined to succeed.

Thankfully, I did. My legs were tired, but other than that I felt okay and made it the whole distance. Which is a good thing, because I don't think I could handle attempting that distance 3 days in a row.