Good 'Ol Right Brain

"Spring" temperature: 46 degrees; splits 9:45; 9:38; 9:48; 9:45; 10:11; 9:28; 9:25 1:08:02 total for 7 miles; 9:43 per mile pace.

Ah, the mentality of a runner. I'm going away the next 2 days with my wife of almost 28 years. We're going to Atlantic City and staying for free, yes free, at a hotel there. Of course I know I won't be motivated to run while we're there, especially since I won't be packing any running gear...LOL. Anyhow, that of course meant that since that I no longer have my problematic heel as an excuse not to run, that I HAD to run today. I played the "right brain vs. left brain" game that I now love to blog about. Left brain said (read using a whiny voice)"It's chilly...it's only 46 degrees, and it's sprinkling outside and it might rain harder, and your body is achy from your weekend runs and since you want to run on the road today it will be more difficult because there's lots of hills, and hills are hard to run up, and you haven't been running on the road so you will get tired quickly and you'll get all sweaty and wet and cold." Right brain said "You will get a walk break for a minute for every 6 minutes you run. So, drive your ass to the linear trail, park your car, and run a few miles and see how you feel. Listen to your music while you run, and again, you get rewarded with a walk break every 6 minutes. You can do this." Well, I listened to right brain and drove my ass to the linear trail. I parked my car, listened to my left brain say "See, I told you so. There's only 2 other cars here," told it to shut the hell up, and off I ran. UGH! I was hurting...I am still out of prime running shape, and it certainly was looking and feeling ugly. I headed in the direction of a 3 mile road run, that finishes with a final mile and a half on the flat and easy linear trail. I figured that 4 1/2 miles would be plenty to run the way I was feeling. The first 6 minutes somehow went by quickly, and the one minute walk break felt great. I was wet, sweaty, my glasses were fogged, and I still felt like crap. I pushed myself again, knowing that 6 minutes of running would again get me a one minute rest. And so I went...running, walking, sweating, fogging, but yet groovin' to my 70's tunes. I reached the linear trail, and at that point wasn't feeling so bad. I tricked whiny left brain and told him that I was going to run to the top of the hill on the road, and see how I felt. My goal at that time was to run an extra loop so that my 4 1/2 mile run could turn into a 5 mile run. As I reached the top of the hill, I started to think big. I knew that by continuing to run and not turning back towards the trail that I would reach Route 10. Route 10 is a long, slow rising uphill run that eventually would lead to a downhill run to the parking lot I was parked in. Left brain at that point had taken a hiatus, so right brain and I were going for the gusto! It wasn't easy, and the walk breaks saved me, but I made it. I reached the parking lot at 6.4 miles, so even though I was tired, I talked myself into a 3/10 mile out and back on the trail to make my run a total of 7 miles. NEVER did I think I would be able to run 7 miles again so quickly. Even with the walk breaks, I'm extremely impressed with my time of 1:08:02, and a pace of 9:43 per mile.