Post-Sandy + mind strengthening run

Today I had 7 miles on the plan.  It was the only day that I could get in a “long run”.  I had been cold all day, so I decided to run near home in case I got to warm from overdressing or didn’t warm up enough and needed a jacket.  (As it turns out, a half zip long sleeve and capris were exactly what I needed to wear.)

Anyways, I wandered through my neighborhood, assessing the post Sandy state.  As it turns out, most of us got very very lucky.  The number of trees down was small compared to previous storms and the number of trees who had dead on hits on houses were small.  Seriously, the majority of trees that came down fell in the only possible way they could have fallen and not done devastating damage.  (This is not to say that the storm didn’t have a huge impact, just that it could have been a lot worse.)

The run itself was pretty much awful.  My lower body started fussing at about mile 1, which was just about the time I was finally done being too cold.  It was a slow, uncomfortable slog.  I’m the queen of “let’s cut it short” when a run sucks, but today I made myself push through.  Yes, that was 6 miles of hating every single step.  I have some thoughts on what might have been the issue – a little dehydration, a lot of junk food, a few days of too much siting at my computer…  But, you know, any one (or more) of my five half marathons could feel like today.  I wasn’t injured, I just didn’t feel great.  Low energy, crabby legs, one foot kept falling asleep…  I may have to run 13.1 miles feeling like I did today.

So, instead of calling it a sucky run, I’m going to call it a mind strengthening run and it was certainly a success at that.