Dear Mid-Week Long Run,

You got me! I didn’t really want to do my long run mid week but life had me moving you around to another day. There would be no Sunday Runday. No early Saturday morning run like last week. No running in my sneakers this weekend!

My alarm was set for 5 am but my body woke up at 4:45 so I went with it. I had all my gear lined out and even a half a peanut butter sandwich and bottle of water waiting for me. I didn’t want to bonk on my run so I had to fuel myself with something.

I got dressed in the dark to avoid waking my husband – though I may have woken him. I snuck down the hallway, pass our daughter’s bedrooms trying not to wake them. I also hit every creak in our floor and thought for sure I’d wake up our dog and my long run plan would go out the door.

I laced up my sneakers on the deck in the cool morning air (12c) and questioned my compression socks, short-shorts and neon yellow t-shirt. Then I remembered that my body temperature would rise quickly and I’d be just fine.

Off I went with my husband’s headlamp (it’s better then mine) because I’ve misplaced my Night Runner lights (sad day). As I ran out of my subdivision, I’m pretty sure the truck that passed me thought he was seeing a ghost because who runs at 5:30 am for fun???

I continued on our main road along the sidewalk with my headlamp beating down on the ground in front of me. A handful of cars on the road, potentially shaking their heads at me “what is she doing?”. My pace was way too fast (6:20/km) and I was hoping that regret wouldn’t set in later in my run.

I ran and thought of nothing and everything. As a crossed the roads and picked my path to take, I found myself at a good hill that challenges me. Yes, I ran up it and back down. I slowly took out my GU that I found in the dark – dang… salted watermelon! I could have sworn I picked out chocolate outrage, my favourite. I downed the salted watermelon and some water and kept running.

Runner’s should never do math while running, it’s almost impossible. There I was, trying to calculate my estimate time of arrival at home as my husband had to hit the road for work. I said I’d be back by 7:15. I had 15 minutes to run 3k but my legs were getting tired. Somehow, I managed to pick up the pace and climb that last hill home.

Once I got home, I grabbed our dog’s leash and yelled up the stairs that I’d be back in 13 minutes. My math work had calculated that it would take me roughly 12-13 minutes so I went with 13. I still had another 2k to run plus get a walk in with my dog before my husband left. Genius idea – run your dog for 2k. Carmacks is a retired sled dog, so he’s all for running and that he did. Our first km together was 6:05/km – whoops!. We settled down for our second km at 6:18/km. My legs were on fire but I finished my 16k long run by 7:20 am.

Long run, you don’t get off that easy – the layers of salt on my face and sweat all over me washed off quickly in the shower but oh you decided to surprise me with chaffing! My heart rate monitor left a nice little mark behind but it was my left hip that really surprised me. Apparently, my belt shifted a little and the water in the shower notified me of the chaffing by screaming in pain – you all know that feeling.

I stretched, ate a quick breakfast and got the girls out the door (my husband fed them and got them ready for the day) and I, off to work. I sat and stood at my desk throughout the day and only started to crash around 2:30 pm. A little walk around the town and I was good for the rest of the afternoon.

I just had to make it to 8pm (or around there) as my youngest daughter had a soccer event that would have us on our feet for a few hours. Mid week long run – you were a good one. Now let’s hope this weekend’s soccer tournament (in the rain) treats me just as good.

Cheers,

Another Mother Runner.

Ever switch up your long runs to mid week?

Cooler temps in the morning for you or still hot and humid?

Ever try to do math while running?

I’m linking up today with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup!