BETTER THAN YESTERDAY

I think running is like the weather. You know the saying, “If you don’t like the weather here (insert Anyplace, USA) stick around because it’ll change soon enough.” Well yesterday I was bitching about struggling through 9 miles. Today I had an awesome 11 mile run. It was a beautiful, calm 27 degree morning with an awesome sunrise during the last mile. It wasn’t particularly fast – my 5 mile splits for the last 10 miles were 43:15/41:45 – but my legs felt so much better than yesterday.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, as well as some of the comments on that post, I’d like to maximize my mileage in singles this year. I think I can work up to running 10-11 miles every morning before adding double.

Looking at my log book from last year, why the heck was I running 5 miles in the morning and 5 miles in the evening, rather than one run of 10 miles? Part of the answer may lie in the fact that last year was my first year of being a morning runner. Prior to that, I always ran at lunch or in the evening. While I did get up at 4:30 once a week for a longer mid-week run, the thought of getting up at 4:30 everyday seemed too daunting. This year I think I’d rather get into the habit of going to bed at 9 and getting up at 4:30 everyday, rather than bouncing between 4:30 and 5:00. I’ve even been contemplating getting up at 5:00 on the weekends and getting my run out of the way. That’s when you’ll know I’m “serious.”

Of course I can say all this stuff when it’s beautiful outside. Ask me again when it’s 27 below and I’ll probably have a different answer.