Feels Like Cheating

I wondered how on Earth I was going to get in ten miles today after a run like yesterday’s.  I woke late this morning sore and a bit groggy.  I've made too many training plan adjustments, so I KNEW I would run ten miles today, no matter how much it hurt.  BUT I wasn’t rushing out the door to do it.  Instead, I washed dishes, floors, clothes, did grocery shopping, made breakfasts, lunches, checked up on my students on-line.  I emptied trash, fed our dog, washed more dishes, organized my running gear.  One might think I was doing everything I could to avoid THE RUN. 

To save on gas, time away from the family and more realistically miserable muggy heat, I decided to run out my front door late this afternoon for today’s run.  The sun shined down strongly, but with the cool ocean breeze, I found the heat pleasantly bearable.  Not only that, I ran on pavement, mostly flat pavement, and I felt strong.  So strong, it felt like I was cheating.  I’m not claiming that today was one of those effortless runs.  No; my calves were tight at the onset.  And I sweated buckets running through the beach campground with their bar-b-que’s and campfires roaring.  But it was certainly no mountain run.  I didn’t run fast, but I found relative ease keeping a decent pace for the entire run.  That just doesn’t happen on mountain runs (a decent pace the entire run, that is).  No way!! 

That’s okay.  I needed a run like today.  But I felt strong for only about the first 4 1/2 miles.  My energy began petering out at about mile five.  That’s way too early for me.  More proof that I needed a run that felt like I was cheating today. 

How I run down flights of stairs – eyes glued to the steps so that I don’t trip:

The boardwalk at Capo:

Running with no gear on my back, no pepper spray . . . the glory of road running:

The marina: