Road Rage

Have you ever had a day when you were just ready to take a sledgehammer to your computer and said, "$^#% this, I'm going for a run"?

Today was just such a day for me. The huge thunderstorms failed to materialize, although the air was so humid you could wring it out. (I was still glad I did my long run yesterday.) I sat back down with this work project that has been giving me fits and resolved to finally finish it off.

Two hours later, I was ranting and putting on my running clothes. It was pretty much either run or break things, so I went for the former. I set out into the warm muggy afternoon and finally managed to relax a little around mile 2 of my four-mile run. This was supposed to be a recovery run, but I was taking my frustration out on the pavement. I kept telling myself to relax and slow down, but it didn't work.

What really ticked me off is that I was only two seconds slower than my best-ever time over four miles! Now I wish I had gunned it a little harder for the sake of my personal recordkeeping. I ran today in 41:01 (10:15 pace per mile), just two seconds off the 40:59 I ran on March 4th.

I went to a party this evening and had two people tell me how good I looked, and a third said my Facebook updates (which are mostly about running these days) were inspiring. The next time I am down in the dumps about something, I am going to replay tonight's tape in my head.