97 Days Left

 

 

After too many days between runs (life gets in the way sometimes), I got everyone off to school and headed back to nature for my run this morning.  I liked running at the park so much that I went back there again.  The biggest differences were that it was 20 degrees cooler today and I had nothing but time.   I had no idea how far I was going to go.  I knew I would do at least 3 miles, but I considered going further if I was feeling great.  This is not my picture nor is it my trail, but this is seriously what the trail looked like:

 

 

With the direction that I was running, there was a lake on my left.  Because it was early-ish and very quiet, I saw ducks and geese and a beautiful white egret that just looked at me both times that I passed him.  There were some squirrels along the way, but mostly it was just quiet and beautiful.  There were some other people out and about - not nearly as many as the other afternoon, but enough that I knew that I wasn't out there alone. 

 

It was right at 50 degrees when I got out of my car and headed to the trail.  I dressed in my running skirt/tights and a short sleeved shirt.  I was chilly when I started, but I warmed up after about a mile.  It wasn't work like Monday's run, but it wasn't easy like Saturday's run.  I did two laps, which is 3 miles.  The loop doesn't start and stop at the same place, so I run to the marker where I started.  Since I run the extra bit twice, I round the run up to a 5K.  (I had seriously considered a third lap, but then I opted for a nice, warm shower in a quiet house instead of the extra lap.  Sometimes a girl has to choose.  Since I NEVER get to shower without someone crying or calling my name or coming into the bathroom to see where I am, I thought it was a good choice.)

 

 

I needed to run today.  We are flirting with the road to autism for one of our children.   It's been a long and confusing road.  We have had our parenting skills put under a microscope to see if we are the problem.  We have gone to weekly appointments to get him the help that he needs.  We have sat through 2 IEP meetings so far this year.  They boys have been in school for 9 weeks and they are only in kindergarten.  We have one more to go in the next few weeks and probably another one before the school year is over.  We are screamed at on a daily basis.  The diagnosis that we got just yesterday is different than what we have heard before.  This new one used the "A" word.  There needs to be more testing to confirm the diagnosis, but that's where we are headed.  It's a lot to digest.  I thought that I would use the run to work through it all.  I didn't.  I didn't think about it at all.  I just ran.  I looked at the leaves.  I smiled at the egret.  I smiled when my running intervals happened when I was in plain view of everyone driving on the interstate and my walking intervals were deep in the woods where nobody would see me.  I enjoyed the peace and quiet and beauty of the morning.  It cleared my thoughts.

 

As an added bonus - I came home to see that the lottery registration for the Nike Women's Marathon opened today.  It's a half marathon in Washington DC in April.  If I don't get picked, then it didn't cost me anything, but if I do, I'm going to be running in DC in April!  Racing is a bit of an addiction!

 

Today's Stats:

3.1 miles in 36.48  (11.8 minute miles - lightning fast!  :)  )

 

Splits from my watch:

Mile 1: 11.50 minutes

Mile 2: 12.51 minutes

Mile 3: 12.07 minutes

*The extra .1 is added in between miles 1 and 2 and then 2 and 3.  The 1.5 mile loop starts at one post and ends at a different one.  I started and finished at the same post, so I ran the distance between the posts twice.  I figure it is at least 1/10 mile. 

I also calculated all of my miles since I registered for the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  Since July 10, 2012, I have run 162.08 miles.