Running in circles

I skipped my long run over the weekend and tonight I paid the price. Saturday's weather was cruddy - cold, wet, dreary - and Sunday I spent the day battling a nasty headache, so running 10 miles really wasn't an option.

I could have just skipped the run entirely, but I knew I would regret it. So tonight after work I was planning on running long. I didn't know if I'd get all 10 miles in, but I wanted to run something longer than the typical 4 that I've usually been doing on a Monday. But our summer-like weather that we've been having? It disappeared over the weekend and we're back to more normal March weather in Wisconsin - mid-40s, windy. Knowing this and knowing I wouldn't be able to get a bunch of miles in before dark, I decided to head over to the YMCA indoor track for the run.

And I ran. I ended up doing all 10 miles. For those keeping track at home, that's a new mileage high for me on the indoor track and a 110 laps. That's a lot of running in circles. And although my cranky IT band (which had been behaving lately) got a little angry towards the end, the run went really well. The first 7 miles were kind of speedy - at least in terms of my long run pace - and the final three turned into the mental battle that I was expecting. But it was a good run.

I also learned that it's not the smartest thing to skip your weekend run and wait until Monday night after work to log a 10 mile run. Pretty sure I'll be busting out the compression socks for work tomorrow.