Those were the two thoughts going through my head for probably 95% of my 3.5 mile run today. I took yesterday off since the Run Club was having a party later and I was tired of feeling rushed through my day: work, run, stop at parents, get dinner, do school stuff, sleep. Unfortunately, taking two days off in a row is not possible, so today I had to drag myself out into the just-about-freezing temperature. Have I mentioned that I hate running once the temperature drops below 50? The fact that I have been out and putting in the miles three other days this week was already something amazing, but today was cold and the workout was either hard or hills. Since my development is flat and I didn't feel like driving to the park, I was in for a hard workout.
I started off not too fast but trying to push the pace past an easy run. It's a hard balance for me especially when I find myself hating being out in the cold and running. The route was easy; I made sure to do the loop near my house first, figuring that by the end of the run I was going to be highly tempted to cut the route short and hop into my house.
Even though I was mentally yelling every step of the run, it wasn't that bad--at least until around mile 2.25 when the cramps started. Sadly just last night I had pointed out to one of my runner friends that I wasn't really dealing with cramps much this last week. I really should learn to not say anything positive about my running; it always comes back to bite me :P
I struggled through the cramps which faded, returned, extended to the middle of my stomach, but refused to walk. When the pain levels subsided, I made myself pick the pace back up.
As I neared my part of the development, I just kept checking off one little landmark at a time to my house; then I ran past my front door for one last little loop of less than a quarter mile but every step adds to my growth as a runner.
Total: 3.5 miles
Time: 29:19 (or something close to that)
Pace: 8:19
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