Counting

Today was my last long"ish" run until Stonecat on the 6th. Hard to believe the countdown to race day has begun, and with it, the taper! I am planning to really take it easy for the rest of this week and next, with lots of stretching and rolling too.

It was one of those dreary late fall mornings today, and Sam went back to sleep until 7:20 after waking up at 6:00 to eat. I thought about going back to sleep too, but yeowling Ronnie had other plans :-) Ah well, I padded downstairs to feed him, and then sat at the computer with my coffee, enjoying the quiet, so it really wasn't all that bad. Despite getting a decent sleep last night, Sam was still ready for a nap around 10:00, so after getting her settled, I suited up and headed out the door for my run. A very light mist was falling and the air was heavy. Temps were steady in the mid-40s, so it was relatively comfortable. I didn't have a set route in mind for the run, just figured I'd head into Highland Green and make it up as I went along. I ran the road to the clubhouse and then turned onto the cart path for the golf course. I wouldn't do this except that I knew from the empty parking lot that no one was out playing today. I ran holes 4 through 9, and then hopped back on the road. As I neared the ecology center trail, I decided to hop onto the trail system and run the dirt roads out to the Ravine Loop. This is one of my favorite trails in the Cathance system, and a bit of single track running through the woods made a nice change from the road and powerline running I've been doing of late.

I realized right off the bat with this run that I was running pretty fast. I also realized that my left leg was tight. I haven't done a great job the past few days stretching or rolling, and the leg was letting me know it! I stopped to stretch a few times in the first few miles, and that helped. Yes, I could have slowed down, but honestly, that does nothing in this case for the tightness I was feeling, so I just went with the pace I was running and continued on. I felt great otherwise. I finished off the 10 miles in 1:19:08, so really, waaayy too quickly, but hey. It did make me think that perhaps, just perhaps, if the knee holds up, I could have a decent race at Stonecat. However, I also know I need to make sure I keep some energy in the bank for the last 6 or so miles on the course, and that anything can happen in a long race, so I am just going to try to take the miles as they come on the 6th, and go out slowly!

The one downside of the run was that the song I had in my head is one from Sam's playhouse. The woman who sings these silly kid songs has a very high and extra cheerful voice. And unfortunately, although the songs are annoyed, they are also catchy, especially if played over and over and over by a child who loves to hit buttons and bop back and forth to music. So, for the whole 10 miles, I had the following in my head:

Counting, counting, counting is such fun!
Count with me, let's start at number one!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Counting is such fun, I would love to count again!

Put the above to trippy background music, and you have enough to make anyone go mad. Maybe that's why I was running so fast?! :-)