One of those days

Yesterday was one of those days. I was cranky. I deliberately skipped my morning run in favor of an afternoon run – something about the Terwilliger hills perks me up. Probably because I am crazy.

BUT – wait! Backtrack. Monday night, I headed up to Vancouver (WA, not BC – that would’ve been a looong Monday night) to do a little hanging out with bride-to-be Emily.  I finally got to see the new digs (and annoyed the crap out of the architect when I got home whining enthusing about her built-ins and our lack there-of) and enjoyed the beautiful grounds (makes it sound very lady-of-the-manor-like, right?). A good time was had by all (or at least by me, I guess I can’t speak for her).

I headed h0me like a good girl, so I could get my 8 hours before my super early run. When I got home, of course I had to talk to the architect for a long time, ’cause we hadn’t really talked for like 24 HOURS! And that’s when I decided I’d do a post-work instead of pre-work run. I took some Advil PM and was out like a light! For 8 hours! I didn’t wake up once! That is completely unprecedented. I’m thinking of starting a new Advil PM addiction. Thoughts?

Anyways….Tuesday. I wanted to get to work before 8:30 (technically my start hours are between 8:30 & 9). I rolled in at 8:35 – so not late! Just later than I wanted. Stupid early train which caused me to miss my bus connection! Totally ruined the night before’s commute where I got home in under an hour! It was magical!

At work, it was just one thing after another. I was getting more & more stressed. And I knew a run would help. I just knew it!

So – guess what I did? If you guessed went home & had a mojito, then you’re right! Gold star!

I was in bed at 9:30, asleep by 10, because I needed to get that run in!

And I did. I got up & was out the door by 5:40. It was my first dark morning run pretty much ever. It was so nice to run along the bluff & see the sky lightening in the east, just sad that I missed the actual sunrise – I turned around to run home right before.

It was a nice 6 miler – although I’m always so very slow that early in the morning. It takes me about three miles to warm up.

Mile 1: 11.27
Mile 2: 11:10
Mile 3: 10:41
Mile 4: 9:59
Mile 5: 9:59
Mile 6: 10:40

I’ve decided to pretend that this was some kind of 4 mile tempo run – in my revised marathon plan, my easy miles are supposed to be about 10:30-10:45 & tempo miles between 9:45 & 10, so the last four miles totally count. The first two are my pre-warmup miles, I guess! 🙂

Anyways – great run more or less, although the first 1 mile, I was debating how few miles I could get away with, but after I warmed up, I was just sad that I didn’t have more time!

After a quick shower & 1/2 of a banana (first half consumed pre-run), I hopped on my bike for my first ride of the Portland September Bike to Work Challenge.  Go team! I am going to try to bike to work a minimum of twice, possibly three times each week. Now that I now it’s possible to do a pre-work run and then bike in (and although I felt like I was dragging, I was a little faster today than last week), I think I could, conceivably, ride in every work day for the rest of the month – 15 more days. We’ll see how that goes!

Today is much better. Not sure if it’s because of all the early exercise endorphins, the half-caf that wasn’t, or just that week is nearly over, and a 4-day weekend awaits, but I’m not complaining! Now I just need to get to the pool!

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