Split Decision

After a late start this morning, I debated whether to run or not. I had a "long" run of 4 miles on the training schedule but once I got up and hung with the fam for a couple of hours, the day was starting to get away from me. We have basketball my mom was taking us out to lunch. I need to do bills. We need to do some Pampered Chef stuff. Anyway, I entertained the thought of running this evening but I knew if I put it off, it was a pretty good chance it wouldn't happen. So, I did what every Big Loser should do, I got my booty out the door and got 'er done.

Driving to the park, I decided I was going to do a "commitment" run. That's what I call and out and back run where there are no shortcuts and no chances to cut the run short. It's just out and back. I knew if I stayed on the Mem Park loop, I'd pass the car at 3 miles and have the opportunity to cut it short. So, I decided to run to the Allen Parkway water fountain and back.

When I got to Memorial, it was nice to "go left" out of the park. I don't know why but "going left" makes me feel like I'm really running and that I'm on a bit of an adventure. You know, it's "out there". Like Elvis has left the park. Anyway, when I got to the light at Crestwood, I got to thinkin':

1) If I'm gonna run this slow, I may as well run trails.
2) It's kind of windy out "on the road", I may as well run trails.
3) I'm running alone anyway, so why not run alone on Ho Chi Minh

So, I calculated all the options in my head and made a split decistion to go off into the woods. It was just a beautiful run. I really enjoyed the solitude, the quiet. All I could hear was my breathing, the crunching of pine needles under my feet, oh, and a little bit of traffic on Memorial Drive. The only problem was that there wasn't enough mud.

My route stretched my scheduled 4 in to 4.4 but I finished strong and felt great. That last .5 mile came in at <15:00 pace. Boy, after this run, I really felt like I had run. It felt good. And 4.4 this week makes 5 next Saturday seem not so forboding.