running in circles

people will often ask me if it is boring running around the track. i was under the assumption also before i started speed workouts. naturally if you were to run your easy pace around the track it would get very boring. however, in a track session, you are going so fast, feeling so much pain, trying to focus with all that you are that you don't have time to get bored. the hardness of it all doesn't come in the fact that you are passing that same set of bleachers for the tenth time and still need to pass it ten more times.

what is much harder, much more boring, is running circles around your house for two hours. the baby is so close now, but being so incredibly stubborn about coming out. i thought it wise for this mornings long run to stick close to the house by running two one hour circles, that way i would never be more than thirty minutes from the house in case she started going into labor.

i had a similar dilemma two years ago with some i.t. band problems. it was hurting so bad at points that i'd have to stop running. if it stopped me for good, i didn't want to be an hour from the house. i'll never forget that morning when i had to put in twenty-one miles. i ran the exact same point to point seven mile course three times. the advantage is in storing your water and gels in your mail box. the disadvantage is in stopping right outside your house after running fourteen miles and starting back up again. that first step as you press start on your watch is incredibly difficult. the warmth, the food, even the bathroom are crying out to you from behind the front door.

this is what i felt this morning. standing at my mailbox, drinking my water, one hour displayed on my watch. one more hour to go. this is when the excuses come, the body and brain ganging up on your will, trying to convince it. 'you've already run an hour . . . you've had a long week, an unusual week . . . you did a hard workout yesterday . . . and the day before a night run . . . you could run the rest tomorrow.'

these voices come at the darkest of times. you have to silence them quick before they overpower you. there is no answering them. there is no logic. the only thing you can do is run away. that shuts them up quickly.

loads of hills today. some steep some long. but i stayed right on my easy pace target and ended the run with an average of 6:59 (just one second quicker). i mostly hovered around 6:57 to 7:00. this has been an amazing three weeks of running. ready to see what happens next.