All you need is a run...

to turn bad days into better days!!! These kind of days end up being the best running days. All the emotions that are pent up in your head get to be released through running and the result is usually an insanely fast run that flies by and then a happy person!!! So yes, I am on cloud 9 right now - Maybe I should have started my day with this run!!

Tonights run was a little different for another reason... my Garmin was dead when I got home and I was not waiting on it to charge. Random day for it to be dead, because just yesterday I was having a conversation with someone about running for time vs running for miles. I am big on running for miles AND time... maybe it is the distance runner in me? When using my Garmin, I don't look at it and think "oh I need to speed up" or "Oh no I am going to fast" I just like to know what pace I am going. The only time I use it to speed up is for Tempo runs. My easy days I just run how I feel. If that is a 7:00 pace, so be it... if it is an 8:45 pace that is fine too (I may not be happy or feeling to good about that pace... but easy = what your body wants to do) I also like to see how my paces change over time. If you look at an 8 miler last year at this time it was - actuaaaaally - last year at this time I had not even ran 8 miles!!!! I just looked that up and that is insane to even think! I have not even been doing this for a year yet!!! My Garmin is still only 10 months old; such a young little guy.  Anyways, looking back on my "easy" days back in March they were 8:30s pretty consistently and some days were 8:15's... now a days it is more like 7:45-8:10's. This is the kind of stuff I like to see - my progression over time. If I wasn't running for miles and time I wouldn't be able to see that good stuff. Now, tonight when I ran I used an old watch that had a stopwatch. I know my route very well, so I did the 9 mile run. I couldn't see the watch while I was out there, so I had no clue what was going on. Once I was done I came in at 1:11:10 for 9 miles - 7:54 pace - which is dead on normal for me. I felt like I ran faster on the way back, but since I didn't have the Garmin, I can't tell you if that is true!!

I have less than 2 weeks to the marathon and I am showing absolutely NO steps towards a tapper - which is bad news for me... someone needs to hide all 1500 pairs of running shoes I own if I want to have a good race!!!!