Monday, October 12, 2009

Shades of Gray


For much of last night and this morning, I debated what run I should do, if one at all. On one hand, I've run the past four days in a row, and a fifth day would arguably counter my resolve to take the post-injury running period (which I've deemed to be about two months long and am about halfway through) slowly and steadily, especially with the last two days at eight miles each day. A rest day today would seem logical.

On the other hand, I've been feeling really good lately, and I really wanted to run. With that in mind, I was immediately thinking exclusively of longer runs around my house, all eight miles or more.

Being the genius that I am, it didn't occur to me until much later that a good compromise would be to just get in a short run instead. Duh. Funny how we think in extremes sometimes and situations come across as an either/or situation, or to put it slightly more colorfully, black and white. Often times, the shades of gray make more sense.

The short trail run in the woods out back was a good one. Saw one hawk (probably a red-tailed hawk) and another large bird that might have been an owl, but it could have been a hawk as well. Gorgeous weather out. Perfect running weather in fact, with temps in the mid-50s and sunny. As a result, the pace was a bit on the faster side, given the technicality of the trails.

Ran 3.8 miles @ 8:43/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 150/168
Technical trails, small section of fire road.
Very hilly.
Mid 50s, sunny.
Asics Trail Attacks (heelless), shorts, short sleeved shirt, Moeben sleeves, cap.

4 comments:

RICK'S RUNNING said...

Yeah your right
Some times we can get into thinking we need to be out running for an hour- 2 hours etc, but short runs can be real fun and its great to get back home still full of energy and refreshed!

MB said...

way to stick with it and thanks for stopping by I follow you on bloglines

Lalaith Means Laughter said...

It is funny but I also spend time worrying about the amount of miles or time I will be able to spend running/strength training that I end of wast\ing some of that precious time : ) Thanks for reminding me that a quality run can be a 4 miles on a gorgeous fall day :)

sn0m8n said...

"Funny how we think in extremes..."

I don't. I think in XXXTREEMZ!!!!