What can I say? I decided to postpone my Sunday long run until later in the day, as it was my wife’s birthday and I wanted to spend the day with her. By the time we got back from a great P.F.Chang’s lunch and a quick visit to a few shops, it was getting dark and the temperature was dropping. I had two choices – run on the treadmill for about 90 minutes, or brave the bitterly cold temperatures and gusting north west winds and run outside.
I needed to cover at least 11 miles to match last week’s mileage (38 for the week) and to be honest couldn’t face hitting the treadmill tonight. I layered up (Brooks base layer, fleece and NightLife 1/2 zip on top, along with fleece gloves, 2 hats & Brooks Sherpa shorts) and was soon ready to run. The temperature had now dipped to 29 degrees but with my technical gear I didn’t feel a thing.
With quads still burning from yesterday’s race and arms still sore from last night’s Wii boxing, the main aim of tonight’s run was to just cover at least 11 miles, although I must be honest I kept thinking about the Shamrock Marathon being only 8 weeks away and my lack of true long runs to date. I really need to get closer to the 18-20 mile range, but today wasn’t going to be the day for one of those. At least I have a 25k race next Saturday to boost my mileage!
The first 4 or 5 miles were tough. I didn’t care about my pace – I just wanted to finish the run and go home. However, somewhere in the 5th or 6th mile something clicked and my motivation increased ten fold. My pace quickened and I started dreaming about last year’s Shamrock Marathon and how good I felt in the early miles. It’s amazing what a few positive thoughts can do for a workout. Now I was floating along and it felt great to be running from one street light to the next. Sometimes running in the dark can be a real chore, but tonight it felt quite surreal.
I finished off the 11 miles quite comfortably with several faster miles. The temperature had dipped to 26°F by the end of the run, but to be honest I wasn’t cold at all. I didn’t even regret wearing my Brooks shorts instead of the dreaded running tights 🙂
As always, click on the MotionBased map for full details of my Sunday evening workout…