Errors & growth

Yesterday was a tight day, schedule-wise, so I thought it would be good to get up and run before work.

You know, at 5 am. In the dark. In the countryside. As you do.

I had a little flashlight which was light enough and pretty sufficient for illumination -- I also have good eyesight in the dark and am comfortable with distinguishing shapes. Did you know that if you lived in a lightless place for long enough, you'd eventually become colorblind and blind, but you'd have extremely good abilities in differentiating between various shades of purples and navy and black? Fun stuff!!

Anyway, it was such a mistake!! Everything was still really icy, as driveway runoff melts during the day and then freezes on the road at night. Even with my light, it was really hard to spot most of the black ice. Also, I literally just rolled out of bed, into my clothes, and out the door -- no food or anything. HUGE mistake. I was dragging, and miserable, and kept slipping. Eventually I turned around and went home, for a total of 3 lousy miles. Boo!

But as my friend says, that's 3 miles that I wouldn't have had otherwise. So that's good.

Today, I woke up naturally around 7, lazed around and ate and took care of business for 3 hours, and then hit the road... and ran a sweet 8 mile course at a lovely steady 9 minute pace. 9 minutes is my JAM, it's my comfortable and natural pace, it's not too difficult, and it's EXACTLY where it needs to be on my "easy" days. HA!

I shouldn't be laughing too soon... this is the very first week of being on the Hanson's training plan, and it only gets tougher from here on out. And I can only hit that perfect spot when I'm rested, fed, prepared, etc... it's an important lesson in what my body needs in order to perform, to be completely honest.

And, last night, I was drinking, which is quite rare for me these days. I went home wondering if my body would be alright in the morning, if I would feel like running, if I was doing myself harm or neutral or good. But allowing myself to awaken naturally, to run when ready, made all the difference.