I am so tired. And

I am so tired. And I think I’m in the pre-cold stage for the bazillionth time this fall. And my knees hurt. And my face is a tiny bit sunburned. BUT I gutted through my long run today. And I mean gutted. I didn’t want to do it. I tried to talk myself out of it. But I told myself it was necessary, and so at 11:15 I found myself beginning to run. I told myself I’d go for 2 hours or 10 miles, whichever came first.
I wasn’t feeling very motivated at the start, and the fact that the “out” leg involved going into a fairly strong headwind at times didn’t help. But in the end, it didn’t turn out to be so bad. I ran on the Seabrook trails, from the pool to Pine Gully to the pool to Pine Gully to the pool. Two out-and-backs for a total of what actually turned out to be 10.7 miles. (I knew it was slightly more than 10. Didn’t know that “slightly” was close to another mile.) I did the first out-and-back in exactly an hour, and the second slightly faster for a total of 1:59:23, or an 11:09/mile pace. Average heart rate was 184.
I took a few quick walking breaks, both to help myself out and to mimic what I will be doing during the half marathon since I always walk through the water stations. I did 19 minutes running, 1 minute walking four times in a row. I hit a low point and did a 9/1 bit. Then a 14/1 bit. And then ran the final 15 minutes to the end thanks to a good song that queued up on the mp3 player at just the right time to get me through.
I was slightly overdressed. It looked and felt colder when I left than it actually was (due to the fact that the sun came out just as I began the run). It was probably in the upper 50s at the end of my run, and I’d dressed for upper 40s. I was wearing capris, a long sleeve shirt, and gloves. The gloves came off after the first hour and I just carried them the rest of the way.
One more long run and I’ll be ready for the Half! My plan had been to do 11 next Sunday and 12 the following Sunday. Well, since those Sundays are Christmas and New Years Day, it probably won’t happen. I will probably compromise and do 12-13 miles on the 27th or 28th…
(Oh yeah, and yesterday I did my scheduled 45 minutes of cross-training on the elliptical. I thought about running, but the weather was nasty.)