Xmas Run

As much as my training has been going well lately, I have still been getting distracted. I find myself going to bed way too late each night to effectively get up and do a morning workout. I really need to cut these distractions out of my life as they are not productive. They are entertaining no doubt, but only entertainment. If anything, the distractions only serve as a reminder as to how boring my life can be in other areas. I need to work on the real world areas of my life and not escape into fantasyland. Though I have been distracted, I still have been managing to get in the critical workouts. I even managed to get in a workout yesterday (xmas) late in the evening. I was down in Lakewood, NJ and planned to run the 5 mile Mannasquan reservoir loop. However, it was getting too late in the day to run through the woods and I forgot my headlamp at home. Instead I did a 1 mile loop through the streets of Lakewood. At first I wasn’t thrilled about doing a 1 mile loop in the street, but it turned out to be a very pleasant run. As it became dark there we many houses with xmas lights lighting up the way. The one mile loop was very easy to do and I found myself getting lost in it. It was completely dark save for the occasional street light and my ears were filled with the musical styling’s of Motorhead. I love running while listening to Motorhead. Lemmy and company have such a loud and fast paced beat which makes it so easy to keep a high cadence. The darkness and isolation of sound from the real world put my on another dimension and I was completely immersed in it. Anyway, I intended to go 4, maybe 5 miles. However, I was just feeling so good that I just kept going. I eventually went 7 miles and thought of continuing until someone from my aunt’s house started to get worried about me and they came out to look for me. In the end, what got me to stop was my coach’s admonition to stop training while I still had the desire to do more. And damn could I have done more. I could have run an ultra. It was only with great reluctance and a touch of sadness that I finally decided to call it a night and head back inside. I knew I had xmas dinner waiting for me and I went inside looking forward to that.