10.37 miles, 9:52 pace
7:30am start, 43degrees- Long hills
As is the new norm, these long runs involve a long hill, many rolling hills, and some more hills. I'm not great at hills, but this run was much more steady, and not as torturous as last week-which is good considering I added 2 miles distance. Hills in my 'hood are not exactly crazy intense, but they are inarguable. Overall this run was really solid. I felt good and strong, and finished knowing I could have accomplished more if there had been need. You really can't ask for much more in a run then that. I think a key ingredient to things going well was a good night sleep (falling asleep cliche old person style at 8:30pm had a lot to do with that) and knowing that this was the first run of a work free week.
I was able to take a moment and appreciate how far I've come. When I started out running, I couldn't do ANYTHING while running- drink, eat, fix wardrobe, take off gloves, scratch my ass- anything. whenever anything that wasn't the rhythmic action of running had to occur, I had to stop and handle it, then start again. Now, after all these years, I can practically do my taxes without stopping. Of course, there are things you have to stop for- Stoplights, shoe fixes, and anything that requires taking off my fuel belt (such as removing my jacket, like I did today) but I'm become so much more fluent in the language of running. I'm really impressed with what I've become accustomed to.
I've also become accustomed to the boredom. Yes, I get bored. Just about every damn run gets boring. I mean, realistically, I run the same streets I've run for years, routes I've done before on some level or other, and I do it all 4 days a week. Music to listen to, or podcasts, helps- but mainly the trick has been to move past the boredom- let it happen, then move on, almost like an intersection- you hit it, it breaks your momentum for a moment, then you move thru it and continue on. That might be hard to understand if you've never experienced it, but I've gotten very good at it.
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