Squashing negativity

I read a quote a few days ago it was "if it were easy, everyone would do it". I forget where I saw it, but it was in reference to running either a half or a whole marathon. But I suppose you could apply this quote to running any distance, or any situation really. Anyway, while Friday's and Sunday's runs weren't necessarily easy, they weren't exactly hard either. I was beginning to think my attitude towards running was crazy! However, today that was not the case.

I woke up and did not want to get out of bed at all. I thought about skipping my run, I thought up every imaginable excuse:
"I'm still tired"...but I knew once I got up I'd feel fine.
"It rained yesterday and it's supposed to rain again today"...but it wasn't raining when I woke up.
"I don't feel like it"...but my IT band has been feeling fine (knock on wood) and I know that when I couldn't run before I wished that I could.
After hitting snooze a few times, I finally got up.

I headed outside to do my usual early morning run on the roads. My legs did not want to move. I had to push through every single step. I almost quit several times, but then I imagined how I would feel if I quit, and how I would feel if I finished my 5 miles and kept chugging along. I kept playing mental games with myself (only X more miles) to try and squash the negative thoughts I was having. Around mile 4.5 I almost stopped but then forced myself to run the last half mile. When I hit the planned 5 miles, I forced myself to run a quarter mile more as a "punishment" for all my negativity. In retrospect, that was kind of a dumb idea, because even though it might not be easy, running shouldn't be a punishment! One bad run doesn't mean that I hate running, but I'm looking forward to the runs I have planned for later this week so I can redeem myself from today's bad run. Despite the fact that I was mentally not in it today, my splits were decent! I managed to hit negative splits...maybe to match my mood ;)

Mile 1: 10:30
Mile 2: 10:20
Mile 3: 10:07
Mile 4: 10:07
Mile 5: 10:01
.79: 12:25 (.25 was still running, .54 was cool down walking)

After my run, my cool down was extremely slow and I took a super long shower. Then I took a long time getting ready. Before I knew it, I only had a few minutes to get to class. I caught myself thinking "let's boogie" which is something Dad always said :) 

I have a lot of fun things planned for later this week, which I'm really excited about! Included in that is this week's long run...TWELVE miles!! I'll post a recap after! 

--Melissa