Diary of a Slacker - 11/13

So, I'm going to take a moment and pat myself on the back for completing four runs in six days.  That's probably the most frequency-wise I've done in well over a year. Distance/endurance-wise? Yeah - I still have a long way to go. 

Thursday morning, I woke up with the alarm, ready to go...until I saw that the temperature outside was in the mid-30's.  That was almost enough to persuade me that I should just blow it off and try to enjoy an extra 30 minutes of sleep.  Then, knowing that the "Y" does open at 5:00 a.m., I decided to heed my "no excuses" mantra, and get on with it. So, off I went to the "Y," arriving shortly before 6:00 a.m. I have to admit, I was somewhat surprised at just how crowded it was at that ungodly hour.  Fitness freaks abound! I hopped on the treadmill and churned out 1.25 in just over 13 minutes.  Not bad. Mission accomplished.

Saturday morning was a bit more of a chore.  Knew my brother would be here at 7:45 a.m. to pick us up for the trek down to Columbia for the Mizzou game. Which meant I had to be up and out the door by 6:00 ish.  That's a tough sell on a Saturday.  And it was chilly - lower 40's.  What was worse, neither my lungs nor my legs were cooperative.  Even though I ran my standard 1.2 around the neighborhood, I had to stop and walk a couple times.  Frustrating, knowing that, at times, I've been able to run 5 or 6 straight without walking.  Not so much at present.  Still, it was something.

Today was a total change of pace (no pun intended).  We were pushing 80 this afternoon temperature-wise.  (Wish it had been like that at the game yesterday!!) After dropping off Riley at a birthday party, I donned some shorts and a t-shirt and headed out for what was intended to be a 2 mile run.  (My "long" run of the week.)  I wasn't exactly certain of the route I wanted to take, so I just improvised as I went along.  And it turned into a 2.5 mile run. Although, in fairness, about .5 of it (on the uphills) was walking.  Still, I finished it in under 30 minutes.  And didn't feel awful afterward, save for the fact that my calves were burning and sorely disappointed that the hot tub is apparently on the fritz.

I know my chances to run outside are going to become few and far between here soon.  So I'm glad I was able to this weekend.  One thing I definitely need to do is get some podcasts downloaded onto my Nano -- those long runs are going to be rough, especially if I'm relegated to the treadmill.  Thankfully, I have several awesome sources from which to choose -- a little church, a little politics -- may not make for great dinner table talk, but to keep me company while I pound out the miles?  Music to my ears.