Nurse on the Run

Over the weekend, I was seriously lacking my running motivation.  I wanted my runs to be over before they even started, and that is not the way to start runs that last almost an hour.  But I trucked through, as the bad runs are what makes the good runs that much better.  Running can’t be peachy all the time, now can it?  (Oh how I wish it was!)

Anyway, due to a serious lack of motivation over the weekend (and a really late start to Sunday!), I ended up moving my long run to today, as I had the day off and could definitely get my run in, hoping that motivation would return.  With a few adjustments to my normal running pattern, I had a fabulous run that reminded why I get out there every day.  What did I do differently?  Check it out:

• Paid more attention to my surroundings.  I often have tunnel vision when I run, but I took the time to look around me and see what was going on.  To the runner who ran by in slippers (no joke), if you see this, I will buy you a pair of shoes.  Or at least a new pair of slippers.
• Say hi to people who I passed.  Sometimes people aren’t super friendly, but I was over on the west side highway and not tons of people were out, so I said hi to people.  One guy yelled back, “I can’t wait for tomorrow!”  I have no idea what that meant, but I guess I’ll take it.
• (Tried to) slow down.  You know that whole “run slow to run fast” thing?  I, um, clearly don’t follow that advice.  Not that I don’t think it’s good advice, but I usually get out there and just do what my legs feel like.  Perhaps that was why I felt tired and lacked motivation, so I made myself promise to run slower.  I tried to keep all my miles over eight minutes, which failed at the end, but I will admit that I felt much better at the beginning of my run and keeping my pace in check definitely helped my legs feel good.  I think this was the ticket.

So how’d it go overall?  Stats are always fun:

Tuesday, January 11 (1/11/11…how fun!)
14.07 miles in 1:50:52, avg pace of 7:53
Splits:  8:04, 8:22, 7:54, 7:59, 8:00, 7:53, 8:02, 7:51, 7:57, 7:43, 7:43, 7:45, 7:21, 7:47

So major pace fail at the end, but I loved this run and got my running motivation back!  Ended the run with a delicious chocolate milk (great post-run recovery drink, in my opinion), so you can’t beat that.  I’m glad to have my motivation back…I knew it was just in hiding, waiting to show its face again. 

What do you do when your motivation is lacking?  How do you feel about the “run slow to run fast” philosophy?

I could talk about what a fabulous weekend I had and how I can’t believe it’s Sunday night.  I mean, nights out with ladies like Shannon are awesome, so I can’t really complain much.  After wandering the Upper East Side looking for a bar to strike our fancy, we ended up heading to a BBQ joint simply because they had fabulously large margaritas.  We chatted it up with the bartender and enjoyed these beauties:

Delicious.

The bartender had us a-glowin’!

I could then talk about how I finished the night off by dancing away with my new friend, Lindsay, who I met through Shannon.

But you don’t want to hear about that.

Nor do you want to hear about my latest New York-y adventure, which involved eating at the Elephant and Castle, which is aptly named if you know anything about my love for elephants.  This little guy was right at home:

Gatsby with his friends!

I’m 100% positive you don’t want to hear about this delicious food I ate:

Shrimp and avocado?  Yes, please.

Food was nicely followed by an evening of comedy at Comix in the Meatpacking District, where I’ve never been before (apparently Meatpacking doesn’t really go with my love for sweatpants…).  You certainly wouldn’t be interested in hearing me talking about a, um, foreign substance (rhymes with “pot”…or is) that overpowered the little arena in smell during Larry Miller’s performance.  That might actually be too interesting.  (Yay New York-y things!)

Oh no no no, instead we shall chat about safety issues on the subway.  That’s right.  Mind the gap, walk left stand right, and avoid the crazies who appear to be yelling aggressively.  I got off the E train this afternoon in order to switch to the 6, and I had to walk down most of the platform to get to the stairs (I have yet to perfect where I need to get on the subway to minimize my walk at the end…).  I had music on so I wasn’t paying too much attention, but I did see a man on the side standing next to a loaded shopping cart (I’m not judging, but you probably know what that means…), and he appeared to be yelling aggressively at people and randomly walking towards some of them.  Since I had headphones in, I didn’t hear what he was yelling about, but I veered to go far around him because it didn’t seem like the best idea to be close.

Which is when it happened.  I got punched in the back of the head.  Huh?!?!  That’s not the type of New York-y things I was talking about!  Not going to lie, that hurt a little bit.  I was a bit dazed and wasn’t exactly sure on the course of action here, so I just power walked to the escalator and ran up it.  I didn’t see any sort of security type person, so I just proceeded on my way.  (Bad, I know.)

Really?  Did that just happen?  I don’t believe it.  I don’t wear headphones when I’m running for many reasons, one of them being safety issues in regards to hearing cars coming, but I did not expect that on the subway.  Something was clearly wrong with this person, but I think it’s important to note that you always need to be aware of your surroundings and what is going on around you.  This is important both in running and in life.

Oh, and you should probably just walk around with some big muscular guy to protect you.  Except all my friends in NYC are runners and clearly don’t fit that bill…at least we can run fast!

Have you ever experienced any sort of violence, either personally or being a bystander?  I will admit that men on the buses in Rome (tight quarters…) often didn’t act appropriately.  Gross.

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After that shining moment, I recuperated and ended up heading out for a run.  I was supposed to do 14 miles, but I totally wasn’t feeling it.  Motivation has been lacking this weekend and I’m not happy about it!  I decided to move the long run to Tuesday (my day off!) and just get out for seven.  Ugh, what a long seven miles!  I don’t know why I’m not feeling these runs right now, but I hope I snap out of it quickly.  Paces are fine and they don’t feel terrible, but I’m counting down the miles and I’m not normally like that at all…it’s usually more like, “What?  The run is over already??  I want to run more!”

Sunday, January 9
7.17 miles in 56:26, avg pace of 7:52

This week is a new week, and hopefully I’ll stop making a fool out of myself and not get punched in the head.  I hope.  Low standards, this week, I suppose…