How was your run? Um, terrible.

It is definitely Friday. And it took almost the whole afternoon for the sun to show its face over here in North Carolina... but when it did, I took full advantage of it. Or, uh, at least I tried to take advantage of it. Let me explain.

I set out for a run today. I usually don't plan the distance ahead of time, I just try to run three miles and then go from there. (Yeah, it's kind of some voodoo psychology I do to myself. Just run three, I tell myself and once I hit three, I start conning myself into going further. C'mon - what's two more miles? And it usually works. But if I set out originally to knock out 5+ miles, I would psych myself out (trust me I've done it before) and barely get through two. My brain is a strange and peculiar little thing.) I secretly wanted to do another five miler (I did one the other day) but knew that I could settle for at least four.

The sun was out.
My running outfit was cute.
The shuffle on my running playlist was on point.
The birds were singing.
It was supposed to be awesome. 
It wasn't.

Let me explain something about running: the first two miles are ALWAYS the hardest. At least I can speak for myself here (annnd see Sam run agrees - we talked about this yesterday). You are trying to get your body warmed up and in running mode but really you are trying to talk yourself out of taking another step. You've done enough; just stop at one mile. It's kind of cold out here and it looks like it might rain - you don't wanna get sick! And other various bullshit excuses my brain and body try to convince me of. Once you get past that second mile, you are in business. Your body feels great and you're UNSTOPPABLE. Except when you aren't. And the run actually gets progressively harder. And that is exactly where I was today.

Mile 1 - It's kind of cold out here. I shouldn't stay out long.
Mile 2 - That sun is bright and I didn't wear sunscreen... I should probably wrap this up.
Mile 3 - My hands are numb. And I kind of feel like I'm going to puke.
Mile 4 - Oh wait. I didn't get to mile four. That's right. I stopped at 3.96 because I couldn't take it anymore. 3.96!! Meaning, I looked at my GPS and decided that I couldn't make it another 0.04 miles. Nope. It wasn't gonna happen.

***PS. If you're a prospective runner reading this, IGNORE my melodramatic self. Running is NOT this bad. It's actually almost always pretty awesome.
And to make it even more annoying, the downtown area of my city (where I live and therefore my usual running route) was PACKED today. For some reason, everyone and their mother were out walking around - taking up the whole damn sidewalk and standing in the way. Let me run off on a rant for a hot minute about how much I hate playing chicken with sightseeing entourages when I'm running.

I know that you* and all your friends* are really enjoying the historic charm and riverside views of my city. Hell, I enjoy it too. But when you hear my HEAVY FOOTED self (seriously, I sound like an elephant when I run) run up behind you* and your* five-pack of friends are walking shoulder to shoulder taking up the whole damn pathway - GET OUT OF MY M#THERF#CKING WAY. And worse, if you* and I are about to cross paths and you* can clearly see me running towards you*, make some ROOM. I, Healthy Little Me, will no longer move out of the way of those who won't make room for me. I am not running off the sidewalk into a city flower garden anymore just because you* can't comprehend my presence. I am ONE person. And I am running. And I WILL run your* ass over. That is all.
*Of course I'm not talking about YOU specifically. Because YOU would never do that. 

So yeah, today's run sucked.. big ones. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I listened to my body and quit when I should have. I still managed to get a decent run in and I'll try for a better one tomorrow. You're not always going to have AWESOME days. Shitty runs happen sometimes. And you just have to roll with it.