motivation

I've said this before, and I will say it again.  I always lie in bed, my alarm has gone off, and I think to myself, do I really want to get up and run?  The answer is generally, no, I don't.

I then have to think, why?  Why should I get up and run?  What do I want to achieve.  I think about my goals.  I want to run a half marathon in about 8 weeks.  I want to run it in under two hours.  I want to be ready come time for marathon training.  I want to get faster.  I want to get my easy runs to where my hard runs are.

Will I be able to accomplish this while lying in bed, getting maybe an extra 30 minutes of sleep?  No. No I won't.  For me, running isn't an easy thing to do.  It takes commitment.  I have to want to do this.  I have to want to get better at it.  So I get up and do it.

I have my training plan, but I am not locked to it.  I know that if I want to skip a day, or switch things around I can.  But if I have a plan the night before, and can prep my mind for what I am going to do the next morning it makes it a bit easier.  Last night I knew I was going to bed to wake up for a 40 minute tempo run.  This can also make it tougher.  Why should I get up and go for a hard run when all I really want to do is lay in bed, which is what my husband and dog get to do every morning?  Because I want to improve!  Now, a 40 minute run sounded tough, I could at least do three easy miles.  Then I started my run.  And my thoughts went like so:

Three easy miles, easy.  Well, now that I am almost done with my first mile I could pick it up a little for half a mile, then get to my turn around point, keeping it a little faster.  Now that I am at my turning point I can go a little bit further, maybe pick up the pace a little more.  You know what?  If I keep going then tomorrow can be my easy run!  Yea, that sounds good.  That's the plan, so I will keep running until I hit 20 minutes, turn around and then go nice and easy on the way back.  Well, since I am running hard, I probably should keep going.  Just until that tree, well that wasn't bad...  I'll keep it going until that sign.  No, wait that bus stop, no after the intersection.  Ok, a mile left until I am home I'll ease up a little... But not too much.  Ok, half a mile to go - now we can go easy!!

Anyone else like this??

And, my splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	40:01.5	4.54	8:49
1	9:40.2	1.00	9:40
2	8:34.4	1.00	8:34
3	8:14.7	1.00	8:14
4	8:34.8	1.00	8:35
5	4:57.5	0.54	9:11