Day 417 -- Silverthorne

I passed through Silverthorne about halfway through today's run. I found this nice moose photo at Blessed2Bless, and I thought I'd join in.

I almost didn't run this morning. We had rain last night, with thunder and lightning, and just as I walked out this morning, I thought I caught a flash of lightning out of the corner of my eye. Lightning is one condition that I won't mess with. So I almost turned around and went back to bed. But I never heard the thunder, and I decided I could get out and run, and if it did turn out to be lightning, I could get home quickly enough. I never saw another flash, so it might just have been my imagination.

I pretty quickly began to wish that I had gone back to bed. I don't know whether it was the humidity (which is still high), or lack of sleep, or too many miles this week, but today's long run was difficult right from the start. By the time I had done six miles, I knew that I was in for a long day. There wasn't anything in particular wrong, I just didn't have much energy. It was one of those days when I just had to keep on for the sake of keeping on.

And I didn't quite make it. I stopped about a mile and a half short of my goal, and walked the rest of the way. I don't feel good about that, but I'm trying to keep it in perspective. This is one day in a long training regimen. I did do a lot of work, and I got stronger. I'm sure that I'll bounce back and finish my next long run.

It happened to me in the spring, too, while I was training for the half marathon. That time, it was the seventeen miler that I couldn't finish. Today, it was the eighteen miler. Both times, I think that I psyched myself out early. I decided early on that it was a bad day, and I just kept dwelling on it, rather than letting myself run. And both times, I was monster thirsty when I stopped. I thought I hydrated pretty well today, but I still drank a lot when I got home.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired now, and going to take tomorrow off. Then on Tuesday, I'll get right back out there.

Oh, one more thing. Today I passed the thousand mile mark for the year. Last year, I didn't pass 1000 miles until September 26. So I'm about seven weeks ahead of last year's pace. Which shouldn't be a surprise. Last year at this time, I was dreaming about a marathon. Now, I'm training for one.