longest run to date - 3/29

I scheduled my long run for yesterday, 10 miles. I took Saturday off to prepare myself for it, planned my route (a rails to trails by the beach), talked it up to friends for accountability. but made a common amateur mistake- thinking i can stay out late friday and saturday night and then run at dawn sunday morning. Didn't - happen. Then, of course, there was no way to fit it in during the day - laundry, cleaning up, playing with the kids and running errands- i got home sunday night in time to wolf down dinner (steak and potatoes- not what i had planned) send the kids off to bed, throw a gatorade into the fridge to get cold, and at 8pm- head out.

I'm still stuck on the fact that I put a drink in the fridge right before I ran out the door- and was gone long enough for it to get cold. Anyways, naturally the sun had set, the weather was PERFECT (60 with a great breeze), and the dark was actually a bonus, maybe cuz I didn't have as many distractions. I spent the first mile coaching myself to take it easy and not worry about pace, miles 2 and 3 were ins and outs of the main roads, shopping centers, etc. Then miles 4 & 5 took me down a back road- holy cow! - I had run this road MANY times and its beautiful, but never at night- it didn't even cross my mind that there were NO streetlights or ANY lights at all! Pitch black! It was all I could do to stay on the road, thankfully was a straightway, but my mind was not the best running buddy, I was imagining gators (the road is alongside a marsh), snakes (i've seen snakes during the day, small ones), and wait - what about jaguars??? I was leaping over shadows like a crazy woman. I kept glances down at my legs praying for some approaching headlights to reflect off of them.

My plan was to run that loop twice, but after that I decided no way, and wound through a neighboring subdivision, under the abundant streetlight and along the sidewalk. I kept a comfortable pace and ended my run feeling much better (physically) than my 8 1/2 mile long run last week, although my pace this week was slightly slower. In spite of the drama of the first half of the run - it was a great time. Sunday runs tend to set the mood for the rest of the week and if they wind up hurting too much or just being bad, I tend to get cranky.

I'm not a fan of gatorade, but I was thankful it was cold!