Accidental Long Runs

I am using the term long run very loosely here as I am still not actually capable of doing a long run without injuring myself I'm sure.  I did however end up doing an 8 mile run today.  I woke up with zero motivation to go running this morning, stayed in bed watching bad movies until 10ish maybe.  I finally decided to get out of bed, start stretching and hydrating to go for a run.  That attitude lasted 2 full hours however, I decided to go run in some trails to give my legs a break from the pavement.  As I headed up rt 93 to the trails I decided since I need new shoes desperately I'd stop putting it off and go pick some up.  I bought the Nike Pegasus since they've finally brought them back to being good shoes. The trails were in the best shape out of the 3 times I've run on then in the past month or so but still some real muddy sections.  I had only planned on running 4 miles so I kept telling myself I was going to turn around soon and I kept pushing that time out 5 more minutes until I hit 32 minutes and I had at first didn't know where the trail went from there so I decided to turn back. I got lost on the way back but only had to back track maybe 20 seconds or so and I ended up finishing up in 1:04:10 so pretty even

This works out pretty well though that I went long today.  It's supposed to snow overnight 2-4 inches I've heard and the Pats are playing at 1pm tomorrow so I'd have to get my run in early and conditions would probably be worse then.   Now I can get in a shorter run and not worry about it as much.

I got beat up by a girl

So after last nights run I got my first two consecutive runs done in I don't know how long. Pretty surprising also because I ran harder last night than I normally have been, so getting todays run in I was all motivated.

I had sent my friend Michelle a text message last night hoping she'd want to run today to help ensure me actually going for a run instead of deciding I should be lazy instead. She gets back to me this morning open to go running. We headed over to some trails that I had run in before but she had not so she was excited to see some fresh trails and I was happy to show her in hopes that I'd have someone else to make me run more often.

The weather today is not ideal but not bad, my car has the temp at 44 degrees before we started(shorts and long sleeves weather) the run and it was accompanied by some light rain. Almost immediately Michelle goes in front of me to lead the way and then I knew I was in for a tough run. We ended up going for about 50 minutes at somewhere between 8:30-9:00 pace. Really probably 9:00 pace but I wanted to pretend it was faster. By around the time we were likely finishing the first mile of the run my legs started to ache, I knew I was in trouble. I got through the run by just watching the shoes in front of me to see if I had to try to react to any roots, rocks or other impassable(to me) obstacles. I had to stop I think twice(if it was more I might have blacked out) because I was dying at 9 minute pace.

Finally on the way back I knew I was close to being done but I couldn't stop just staring at the shoes in front of me I missed the trail back to the car. It wasn't that big of a deal it's not like I couldn't use the extra time but we went back to the trail, then Michelle asked if I'd mind her going an extra 10 to add on because we thought it had only been 38 minutes. Turns out that wasn't the case and she just wanted to really rub it in that I am out of shape.

All in all though it was a good run despite the embarrassment of how out of shape I am but that can't be avoided. If anything it's good for me and will only make me come back quicker.

"if we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we are not really living" - Gail Sheehy