Thursday, October 14, 2010

Unexpected run

"Woke up, got out of bed
Dragged a hat across my head
On the way downstairs I grabbed a Gu
Looking up, I noticed it was dark ..."

My apologies to Sir Paul.

I woke up this morning and looked at the clock.  It was 5:30.  I didn't feel like I was going to fall back to sleep so I quickly decided that I might as well go for my last run before the half marathon this weekend right then.  It was going to rain later in the day and I would have to run at lunchtime so this would work instead.  I threw on my new tights, new top, and new jacket, plus the new reflective vest (nothing like trying out a whole bunch of new things right before a race), put on the headlamp and the cotton gloves my brother used when he ran Boston, and headed downstairs.

In the quiet of the morning, able to see my breath in the headlamp glow, I started off at a slow pace.  This was what my body was telling me to do and after that last few poor runs I decided to listen to it.  I didn't really care about pace, I was just out for the mileage and to remind myself that I liked running.  The temps were fine, I was probably over-dressed but not by much.  As I came through Harvard Sq and my watch beeped at 1 mile I felt loose and comfortable.  Along the Charles in the dark was very calming.  As I came into the pool of light before crossing the foot bridge I saw first one, then a second bunny rabbit just sitting there.  They didn't move away until I was right next to them, and even then they were pretty casual about it.  I started coming up with a tortoise and the hare metaphor, but nothing came to mind.  On the other side of the bridge I saw another morning runner waiting for the light.  I thought about trying to catch up but she looked fast (and proved to be) and I wasn't interested in pushing my pace.  Instead, I just kept my own pace as I headed back into Harvard Sq.

It was a good run for me, steadily faster as I went along, but never fast. It calmed my nerves after a bad run and put me in a good mood for the day and for the weekend.