3 Runs this Week Already?!?

yes, that is right. i have ran 3 times this week already. if i can get my run in this weekend i will have completed a full week! first time that will have happened in a while. today's (or mostly tonight's) run was weird. J tried to hurt me by telling me i needed to run at a 7:57 pace (what he ran yesterday). i knew that was out of the question. for one, that was not what was on my schedule and 2, that is not in my abilities right now (if i could even get close i might have tried). so, i decided to do my scheduled run, 5 miles, at the scheduled pace, 9:55. i started out a little fast and a little tight. i gradually slowed myself down. however, after it got dark i couldn't read my watch and somehow i sped up, but it didn't really feel like i sped up, i thought i was still getting slower. so my pace was actually 9:34. my last 3 half miles were 4:34, 4:38, 4:34. i didn't mean to run that fast since i was planning on a longer run tomorrow, but it happened.

my heart rate stayed pretty low, even though this was one of my fastest paces in a while. i don't think i will be able to run tomorrow like i wanted, it is Emily's birthday and when i told her i was planning on a long run tomorrow she said it would take me too long and then i would be laid out the rest of the day. so i may postpone it until sunday, which scares me a little.

thought of the day: "In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest," Henry Miller. i was thinking about running an alternate route this weekend for my long run, since the hills right around the half-way point seem to have really tired and slowed me down the last 2 long runs. then, during my run tonight, i was going up a hill when i thought "this hill always gives my problems. i actually told J that about this particular hill on monday. i thought to myself tonight, i should say this hill always makes me stronger, every time i run it. with that mindset, i would always want to run it and enjoy it, because i am getting a great benefit from the hill. so getting stronger on this hill now, will only help me when i have to run other hills. i wish i could go run it right now, how often do we get to do things that makes us stronger and better?