The Long Run

"Who is gonna make it? We'll find out, in the long run" The Long Run: The Eagles

Today I received a nice 8x10 certificate from the ING Hartford Marathon. It reads: Rick Held has completed the full 26 mile 385 yard marathon in the 15th annual ING Hartford Marathon in Hartford, Connecticut, October 11, 2008 Time 4:22:19 Place 1173. It was the lift I needed after running a wretched 7 miles today. Today was supposed to be a nice Saturday afternoon leisurely run on a new road course. I purposely didn't drive and check it out ahead of time because I didn't want myself to be anal and worry about split times or even my total time. I had set myself up for success. I even did more stretching than usual before I ran. Stretching isn't my favorite thing to do, so I'm just not very flexible. Touch my toes? Forget it! More like touch my ankles. Anyhow, I parked at the Linear Trail parking lot, turned on my music, and off I went. No trail running today, just the open road, 70's music, and a cold and windy day. Oh yeah, temperature was 34 degrees, with a feels like temperature of 29 degrees. That's about average for this time of year. My first mile was being run into a 10 mph wind, which I wasn't concerned about, because again, today was going to be a stress free and fun run. I turned onto my next street, and the wind was no longer a factor. Time to be warm, and warm up, since it usually takes me a mile or so to warm up. I did start to warm up, and knew that the next 6 miles or so I was going to be "just right" temperature wise. What wasn't right was how I was feeling. I guess I can describe it as "lead legs syndrome." My legs didn't have the usual bounce. At times I felt like I wasn't even running right. Since when did I have to actually think about how to run?! I tried problem solving in my mind. I had only run 3 miles yesterday, so that wasn't an issue. I had eaten my usual breakfast, wasn't overdressed, had my usual running shoes on, hadn't done anything too strenuous the past 24 hours, etc. Damn, I was baffled!! I was cursing myself for creating a new course of 7 miles and running it today. One hour, one minute, and 21 seconds of a 7 mile unfun run. My pace per mile was a respectable 8:45, however. As I sit here hunting and pecking on the keyboard, I'm thinking that maybe my overdosing on homebaked cookies and other junk the past week may have caught up with me today. That has resulted in "found pounds." Hey, maybe I've f*cked up my equilibrium!! It's probably a good thing that I return to work in 2 days. Being home for 12 straight days, surrounded by holiday food (cookies), has been a bad thing. OK, so now no more cookies. In addition, any leftover cookies will be brought to work to be devoured by my co-workers. Sounds like a plan. No more cookies, eat healthier, and keep on running. Okay, glad I vented here. My mood has gone from "Why do I bother running" to "I can still run, have fun, and feel good again." Thank-you blog that hardly anybody reads....