Total Miles: 23.3

Total Time: 3:48

Total Calories: 2900

Workout: 13.1 Miles

Time: 2:08:45

In contrast to Thursday, I just wasn’t really in the mood to run Saturday morning.  I actually started having negative thoughts about it Friday night, but still managed to get up on time and head out the door for the run.  After some debate, I ended up going back to Johnson Park in Piscataway.  However, to switch it up some, I figured after 4 miles I’d cut into Rutgers to see what kind of milage I could do there.

The Rutgers campus is surprisingly big.  I took my run up past the newly renovated football stadium, then headed down and around some roads.  And what did I find?  A full golf course, smack dab in the middle of the campus.  I was tempted to run on their paths, but opted against it.  So I stuck to the roads, winding through Busch and the UMDNJ campuses, doing a final lap around a soccer field before I headed back down to Johnson Park for the file 4.something miles.

All in all, I never really got into the run.  My time was good, my breathing was good, nothing hurt…but I just mentally couldn’t get into it.  But, you have to push yourself through these “no fun” runs in order to reach your goals, and so I did.  And, along the way, I found a new course to run and got a first hand look at some of the great facilities Rutgers has to offer.

Sunday

Workout: 10.2 Miles

Time: 1:40

Sunday I was faced with the same issue…I was just not really in the mood to run.  Figuring I was doing only 10, I headed back to Johnson Park to do the 5 out-and-back times 2.  It’s varied enough to keep you from getting completely bored.  The first 2 miles were rough…the sun was in my eyes and I was still groggy and cranky.   It really wasn’t until mile 6 that I finally started feeling good.  And that good feeling took me through 10.2 and on my way home to get ready for some family get togethers.  I saw some of the usual suspects along the way…the ninja lady doing her routine, and this hard core old guy who walks faster than many people run…and he does it with a limp.  And of course, I can’t forget my geese friends with their “what are you looking at?!” attitudes!

People ask me a lot what I think about while I’m running so many miles.  And the funny thing is…I’m mostly either blanked out or thinking about running.  Not so much the run I’m currently on, but about future runs and races, and planning out for those.  While running Sunday I came up with two great ideas:

1. Reach out (through my Team in Training people up here) to Team in Training in Florida to see if they will come out race day to cheer me on some.  This would be great motivation for me, would help give Stephanie some company, and be good promotion for the Team in Training program.  I know they’d definitely help me get through it.  So, I’ve reached out…we’ll see if it happens.
2. I decided to make up a spreadsheet for Stephanie that shows where I should be at what times, based on possible paces…so that way it minimizes any worrying she might do thinking I got hurt or passed out or something.  I was (with her help) actually able to figure out how to write a formula in Excel to calculate it for me so I didn’t have to figure it out myself.  I was pretty impressed.  So now she’ll know when I should be showing up at certain locations…but with a much better feeling about the time range I should be showing up in.

Well, that’s it for this weekend.  Next weekend coming up is 18 and 10.  Fun, fun stuff.  I just need to find someone to run those with me.  Any takers?

Until next time…run on friends!