Evening Runs

I am generally a morning runner. It just works better for me. I don’t like running on a lot of food, and lots of random foods (not all of which I’ve figured out yet) bother my stomach. So the safest bet of not having random stomach pains, or worse, is to run in the morning. It also helps to get my mornings off to a good start. Endorphins ftw!!

However, I also really love sleep. And this week, my sleep has been WEIRD! Usually I have trouble sleeping – falling asleep, staying asleep etc. This week was the other end of the spectrum. I was sleeping like the dead! I fell asleep with the TV on one night – and slept straight through till the alarm. I didn’t even wake up due to an obnoxiously loud commercial! Anyway, this dead sleep caused me to sleep through some morning runs.

So I did them in the evening. Both after really long days. But, the runs went all right. The first night run (Thursday night) was a bit too late though. I started out at 845, I don’t really have any nighttime running clothes, and it was DARK.

Today’s run was at 6ish. I had a long day of volunteering at the animal shelter – it’s our annual feline fest. I had to be there at 8 (even earlier than when I go to work during the week!) So I didn’t make it out to run before.

I had really low expectations for the run this evening. I did not hydrate or fuel properly throughout the day. The staff at the shelter did not seem to share my work ethic (or really any) so I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to prep the floor to open at 10. And then once it did open, 12 cats were adopted within the first hour. Holy busy. And the day continued like that. So I didn’t take in the water I needed to, and the run was happening in a stiff 88 degree evening. ouch.

The plan called for 3 miles at goal pace (10:20 for me). I told myself that getting the miles in was the most important thing, so to just run them at a decently comfortable pace – I was expecting like 10:45 or worse. I started off up a hill, and got warmed up. And then, before I knew it, I was cruising along much faster than I’d planned. I thought about telling myself to pull back, but why? So I pushed, on trying to maintain the same effort. I was super happy to end with 3 miles at an average pace of 10:14. One of my best outdoor runs in a while!

this was a big confidence booster. As I looked back through my daily mile log this week and last, my posts seem pretty positive, and my times looked good. However, I’ve been left with a lingering feeling of pessimism. So tonight’s run was a nice bump!

Now I’ve got to plan tomorrow’s 6 miler, which I’ll probably be doing in the early morning.

Also, I never thought I’d say this,but after 8 hours of cat volunteering, I’m pretty sick of other cats. I’m cool with chilling just with my dinah for a little while. And for anyone wondering – 35 cats were adopted today! NICE!