Loving that Discipline

Time of departure: 7:05am (See, Matt, it's not personal. I'm even late leaving to meet Alan).
Done: I stopped running at 8:05 at Broadway Ave.
Temperature: It was 52F when I got back.
Lake Michigan Temp: In the 40s.

Route: The usual, but straight to the lake on Ardmore, to the lake, down the path, over all the bridges (for some minor hills. In Chicago, you gotta take what you can get) over the Montrose hill, back north.
Approx Distance: 5.5-ish
Running buddy: Alan Watts. Matt's knees are bothering him.
Clothing: Army shorts and sweat wicking t-shirt
The Drive Activity: I didn't really notice it. Alan Watts was whispering his sweet-philosophical-nothings in my ears.
Dog beach Activity: I don't recall.
People tally: There quite a few people out. I didn't recognize anyone.

What did I eat pre-run? Some water and some dried cherries.
How did I feel? Kind of slow and heavy. I could feel that my legs were tired from the biking I've been doing.
What do I like about running? It's a catalyst for meditation, for discipline of the mind.

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I'm going to blame it on running through the winter. (Also, of course, the accountability of a running buddy and a running blog). But habitually getting out the door, without debate, when the temperature and conditions make it an unreasonable thing to do, to go for a run; this strengthened my mind. Doing something when you don't really want to do it, but without having to argue with yourself to get moving, that is powerful.

Matt again was unavailable due to knee pain. But I decided last night I was going to go running as usual. I woke up early as I'm still having a bit of a jet lag thing going on. And when the hour rolled around to 6:45am, I got ready for my run. I habitually scurried around, finding socks in the laundry basket, my mp3 player tucked under something, and my car key on the hook. I had to move my car before street cleaning when I was done with my run. There was no question of, do I feel like going for a run? Do I really want to run? How about I sleeping in and running later? This voice was non-existent as far as I could tell, it had fallen silent after months of being ignored. And besides, my body wanted the feeling of turning over the earth, breathing in the air off the lakefront, and the enjoyment of those post-run endorphins in my blood.

It is probably best that I have a set time that I go out the door. Because with this time constraint, the thoughts in my head are all about getting out the door on time. Like rushing around before you go to work, you don't stop to think, do I want to go to work? No. You just go. There isn't room for those nagging thoughts that slow you down and keep you from getting what you really want.

For years I had had elaborate routines to get out the door, with marginal success. The night before I'd set out all my running clothes, hoping to make it easier for me. But I could always talk myself into one more push of the snooze, one more moment with my pillow. Just one more. And so running never became the habit I always thought I would enjoy it to be.

It was a beautiful morning for a run. It is too bad Matt was not able to make it. The sky was clear and sunny. The air was cool. If I had checked the weather, I probably wouldn't have worn shorts, but I didn't regret it. It was invigorating. When I was at my stretch point, I observed all the dew drops on the leaves of grass, the budding leaves on the trees. The crabapple trees are budding little pink buds. They are one of my favorite trees, at least in this country and season.

I timed myself. Even this demonstrates the discipline I've developed over the last months. I decided I would time myself before I left the house. But when I started running, I felt heavy and slow, my legs tired from the 900% increase in cycling over the last 3 days. A perfect opportunity for me to decide to time myself a different day when I was running faster. But the decision had already been made. It broke down like this:

7:05am Left house/started running
7:18am arrived at stretch point
7:23am left stretch point, resumed running

at the 0.0 mile marker I started timing myself. At the 1.0 mile marker, it was 9 min 40 sec. Not too bad, really, considering I felt I was going super slow.

down the path, over the hill, around, over the hill (I paused one minute on top to take in the scene. It's beautiful up there), back up north...

at the 1.0 mile marker, I started timing myself again. At the 0.0 mile marker, it was 9 min 41 sec. Same pace. Still felt slow, still was slow, but I'm okay with that.

Stopped at 8:05am at Ardmore & Broadway. Which means, total time spent running was 54 minutes. At a pace of 9 min and 40 sec per mile...... d= (1 mile/9.6min)(54 min) = 5.625 miles

I felt like I really kept the same pace throughout (which I don't always do) but I think this is a pretty good measure. Also, this perfectly corresponds with what I had figured by using the gmap pedometer.