Running with Jack

This morning I was up at 5:00 a.m. to wake my wife up (she never hears the alarm) but every muscle in my body seemed to ache, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I wanted to do an early morning run, but settled for a late morning run. Yesterday I was moving furniture, including the washer and dryer, this morning I felt like I was a hundred years old.

I headed out on my 14K/8.7M trail, starting slowly then picking up the pace. My muscles resisted, whined and did all they could to interfere. I pushed, trying to convince myself that it was all in my mind. I ran the first 7K (4.35M) with an average pace of 5:27/K (8:46/M), but it took a tremendous amount of effort – I felt like I was running a 10K race. By KM9 I was running out of gas, I only had some water for breakfast right before the run. I fought the urge to slow down, I was determined to keep my tempo going, I had enough easy runs the past week. The last 10-15 minutes were miserable, I was continuously fighting to keep my pace going, my muscles ached, and it started to rain.

After what seemed like an eternity I finally made it home and boy was I glad! My average pace for the 14K was 5:38/K (9:03/M), a little slower than I had wanted, but considering my strenuous home improvement activities this week, acceptable.

I decided to wimp out and not do my 10K race tomorrow. There are enough other races this year, I think I will spend tomorrow afternoon doing something with my wife.

I took another look at my training schedule last night, if I want to run the marathon on March 12, I have to start training NEXT WEEK! This is one of the factors that prompted me to skip the race tomorrow.