After today, there is only one more long run day before my half marathon. I kept it simple and ran in my town. It was fairly flat which was nice considering I was doing 9 miles today and it was a nice change of pace from the hills Lori and I ran last week. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. It was just under 60 degrees with the sun shining and a slight breeze making a t-shirt and shorts the best option for today. I pulled myself out of bed somewhat earlier than I normally would on a Sunday and wasn’t really feeling a run. I would have rather kept sleeping. With some motivating words from Kait via text, I hit the road.

One of the best/worst feelings I get when I am running are actually two feelings. The first happens within the first 3 miles of a run. It’s the feelings and thoughts where I am just not into running. These thoughts roll over from my thoughts when I first wake up for a long run. My knees might be bothering me, maybe I don’t like the playlist I put together, maybe I’m already dreading the route that I’m on. I really want to just stop, walk a little, and catch my breath.

But I don’t.

Usually about the 5-6 mile mark, I begin to have a new feeling, a much better feeling. It is this sudden sense of dominating confidence where the pain I was feeling, the frustration, the boredom, and sometimes the nausea associated with running, just disappears. I feel like I can keep going and going and going. Due to this feeling, sometimes I am able to extend a run by a mile or maybe two. Other times, I just pick up the pace and try to finish the la
st few miles faster than I normally would. Either way, I am happy to have feelings like that. I know it is the adrenaline and the “runner’s high”. I know if other people tried running, once they feel the high, they would want to make it a routine in their life. The sense of accomplishment that comes along with running further or faster or with fewer breaks than you did the week prior, makes everything worth it while you are training.

I didn’t take pictures today during my run but you can check out my route via RunKeeper and my times for each mile. Love starting my Sunday’s with a good run!