Saturday Morning Jog

I decided I wanted a change of scenery for my run this morning so I drove out to A1A (about 7 miles). However, there were a few factors working against me this morning. But I prevailed.

#1 - Dorian. Yes, as in the weak tropical storm off the coast of Melbourne, FL. I don't do well running in winds (or even a breeze.) I feel like it adds so much more work. Well, Dorian's outer bands are off our coast and there was still a breeze. And I wish I would've taken a picture of the flags I saw along the different points in my run because some times they'd be blowing west, then south, then east. It was kind of neat to see it following along the 'spin'.

#2 - Parking Meter start time. Back in the day I used to come to A1A just about every Saturday and/or Sunday to run. And I know for a fact that the meters didn't kick in until 8am. Well, now they start making you pay at 7am. I got there right at 7am. You know, in some cities, metered parking is free on the weekends! I decided I didn't want to risk it (didn't bring any quarters because I wasn't expecting to pay) so I drove about a half mile west to my office and parked there.

#3 - Intracoastal Bridge. Since I had to park at my work, I now had a (not a monstrous) bridge over the intracoastal to have to go over twice to get to A1A. Thankfully I was never there during its openings, that would've really messed up my rhythm. But let me tell you... Breeze + uphill isn't my fave. However, i did have negative splits in my last mile which is impressive since that bridge was tackled in the 3rd mile.

#4 - Pinched Nerve. Okay, well I'm not entirely sure that that's what it is. But something in my upper back has been bothering me at night the past 3 nights and yesterday during the day it started to kind of affect me. I probably should've listened to the voice in my head (and my trainer... if something hurts, don't force yourself.) and not ran. BUT it didn't bother me at all during the run. We'll see about the aftermath today.

I went 3 miles in 30:40. I probably could've gotten it done quicker but when I got back to the office my Nike Plus app hadn't told me 3 miles yet so I paused to unlock my phone and check to see how far off I was. I had another tenth of a mile so I ran up and down the block to meet my 3 mile mark but I did have to waste a little time stopping to assess the situation.

Despite all this, after my run I had 40 minutes until the first Slash session of the day. I almost stayed for it (it's a block away from my office), and I actually feel really guilty not going. Weird... I know. (but again, probably better until I see how my back feels after the run.)

Song that pushed me during the last bridge: Brian McCann's Walk Up song randomly came onto my playlist and that song always gets me going. Even at Slash. "All I Do is Win"

But you know what else I was thinking about on my run? (wow that animated gif of Mccann is very distracting haha) People who say "Oh I have an "easy 8 mile run today." HOW IS 8 MILES EVER EASY? Ok, I've never trained for a marathon or half marathon (started to train for a half, but once I started getting to about 6 miles I'd get really bad pains in my lower calf/soleus) so I get why at some point maybe 8 miles is easy. But anything over 4 miles to me is just crazy.