Some "runs" are better than others...literally

Since it is my day off today (after a stint of six 9-hour days of learning learning learning) I figured I'd go for a nice solid 40 min run. Since I have an acupuncture appt in the later morning, I knew it would be best to get the run out of the way early. So I did.

My stomach was feeling a little wonky but I figured if I kept it light I could do it. The run started off OK, a little tight but feeling normal since most runs start like that. I wasn't sure where I could take this run (last intensive I ran down the main street I'm living on and it was constant baby hills) so I figured I'd just plan to run 20 out and 20 back cutting down side streets off the main drag to keep things more flat and easy. I'll admit I was a little tense thinking about how to work it out and this kept my run tighter and my shoulders higher. All I could think back to was my time in college spent on the rowing team where we would run for cross training workouts and my coach would always give me a hard time about my hiked up shoulders. "RELAX!" she'd yell out to me. Easier said than done, you see, the mind is a very powerful thing. Very...

But anyway, about 15 mins into the run I saw an actual park/trail to my right so I figured I'd try that out. At first it was awesome. Very wide paths with shady green trees, some fallen leaves crunching under my feet, squirrels scurrying about. A fine fall Florida day, basked in sunshine and peaceful due to being set back away from traffic and life. All was well. Then the path kind of became more of a trail, and I got a few cautionary thoughts scurrying about my mind having to do with a) getting lost on a trail I'm unfamiliar with since my sense of direction isn't too keen and many trails aren't marked well, and b) getting attacked on the trail since I was alone. Those thoughts coupled with the fact that the trail narrowed enough leaving me a smaller path to run on which was filled with knobby roots and heavy sand made me think to stop. Better to be safe than sorry. I ended up feeling a little ugh in my stomach so I turned and walked my way out of the trail and picked back up to a run once I hit the main drag. On the main drag I got a strong cramp in my stomach which I decided to walk through for about a minute and then I ran the rest of the way back just fine.

Total run time, or rather, total time spent actually running? Approx 30 minutes. Ugh. It wasn't pretty folks, let me tell you, but it is done and that has to count for something.

What valuable lessons have I learned on my run today?
1. Run more often in the week so that you don't feel forced to go for a run with limited time and a upset stomach.
2. Check out trails online so you get the gist before deciding they are going to be great to run on.
3. Don't beat yourself up mentally before you even get your foot out the door.
4. Don't write about upset stomachs in blogs otherwise Jenny won't read them. (Sorry Jenny!)
5. Exercise tomorrow so I have more to blog about. It would be a shame for a new person reading my blog to start by reading my crappy blog. Literally. Sorry again, Jenny! ;)

I think that's that for now. Must run off to my appt now.
Cheers!
K