Sunday=Pain Day

My thankful for today is that Tina put out the thankful challenge.  Because of that I have become consistent with my blogging plus I am getting more into the habit of actually using my camera!

So...from the title of this post you can guess that today is not going to be in the top 5 of my runs.  But - there is something special about it, which I will tell you at the end.

Today started out right - slept in a bit, ate my beloved bagel w/PB, packed up, and got ready to run.  I even remembered to put my camera in my fannypack so I could take the pictures of my running route!

Practical AND stylish.

I had a good start - trying to stay slow which has been a struggle recently.  Sometimes I'm not sure what slow is to me.  I do the talk test under my breath every once in a while but since I run alone it's a little awkward,  Maybe I should try to fake that my headphones are for a phone and have an imaginary conversation?  Will give that more thought.

My first five miles are not that interesting - mostly city blocks.  Then I enter a small park - including a dog run!  I'm lucky that I've never been threatened by any of the dogs I've ever run by.

What a cutie!

I continued on through the park and had a little friend running parallel to me for a bit!

SQUIRREL!

There's definitely some hilliness in Cambridge - biggest one is in this park.  I will admit that later in the run I walked up one hill, but otherwise I stuck to it.

More city, and then - the river.  Lots of pictures there.

Really nice to run along on sunny days as today was.  I usually see kayakers at some point and today I did see one person out, but didn't get the camera out in time to catch him.  But I did catch some other river travelers.

Oh, and another dog.

What a sweetie!

I turned left from the river to complete my loop.  Not much to see there, but I do love these buildings that are right across where I stop for some Gatorade.

I have no idea what they are, I just love their shapes.

Made it back to my gym to pick up my stuff.  But it really was a close one.  My right hip started feeling stiff around mile 5; my left joined in around mile 8.  I was happy when the left kicked in - I was symmetrical now!  I wouldn't be babying one side and running in bad form!  What a loon.

The important part about this run was that I had a new longest distance run.  I did 14 miles.  I wanted to give up at mile 8 and catch the T back.  I wanted to give up at mile 13 and give myself another week to add the mileage.  What kept me going is that knowledge that if I cut this run short I wouldn't make my 100 miles.  I tried to say "oh, I'll make it up later..." but I knew that was a lie.  So - fought through.

In total honesty the last three miles were a liberal application of the walk/run principal.  If I was to publish my splits (which I will not, for pride's sake), it would show a steep decline from mile 1 to mile 12-14.  Not good.  

It might have been from doing a tempo run yesterday or I might not have been stretching post-run enough this week (or ever).  Today was a mental toughness day and I am proud to say that although my body wanted to give up, my spirit didn't.