Today’s run this morning was above and beyond what’s usual for a Tuesday. Yesterday I ran into the office…and I did it again today. Weird. I got to the bus stop and after hanging about for about 30 seconds, I decided to just carry on, and on, and on. And eventually I got to the office. I wasn’t as as fast as I’d normally be had a rested a day before I’d run again but it was a riotous attitude, and I like that. It wasn’t that hard actually, sure I wasn’t fast but I was just there all the time, through each and every kilometre. 

The nice thing about it is that pushing your norms tell you a little about yourself that you didn’t know before. For me, it was that I could and would be up to running into the office two days in a row. This according to my own normality was unheard of – not anymore – its totally heard of now! This means I can do it and that’s enough for me to do it again. Life’s lessons can be learnt through adversity. The mental stress involved in thinking you can’t do something is kind of overpowering most days but days that you overcome it, is a day that you decided to see what gives, what can you ultimately loose, what's the worst that can happen? These are the questions that you get prepared to answer yourself on days like today. Might seem like a small event, but its huge.

Same can be said of diligence, keeping to a plan, being brave, being disciplined and doing what you want of yourself. That's power.

This is the run that I’d normally do on a Tuesday, which is just a nice run just under a quarter of the way to work, and another quarter at the tail end a little later after a short ride on the bus:

And this is when I decided that I’d carry on…give it a go and go the ‘whole hog’.

My feet are a bit sore but that’s OK – pain is temporary, glory is forever!

I had a beautiful run this morning. Everything seemed to talk to everything else in my body. I may have been slower than usual but my pace was comfortable and it was continuous and that's a good thing. Also, its a nice day out – the sun came out and is still around so that's great.

My best feeling while running is what I describe as a ‘continuousness‘ of pace, sort of a consistency that just keeps going and going and you’re moving forward without much strain even as you climb a hill, the same continuousness keeps the engine purring at a constant rate and its a good rate. This is a good, strong way to do things.

I had a fairly surreal day today. I can scarcely feel that it occurred. This is mostly because of my run this morning. Can you believe it? I woke up momentarily this morning at 3am, 4am, 5am and finally decide to get out of bed at 6am. Usually this happens when I’m expecting something to occur – like a run into the office. yesterday, I’d started thinking about not doing today and just ‘rest’, but that was just my weakness trying to talk me out of it. I knew at 3am that I was going to go, no matter what, it just needed to come.

The run was weird because it didn’t feel like anything I’d felt before, it was almost as if I was not difficult. Usually the run is pretty straining and I find it tough going but not this time. This time it seemed as if nothing was happening, I was just moving. Even after the run, when you really start to feel the run’s effects tire you down and the fatigue starts to set in and pull you down. I felt nothing. Also my respiration was unhindered, I was breathing fully and I felt like I was getting ample amount of oxygen during the run to power my body. My legs and feet got tired, but they we constant in their strain, in so much as you tend to notice them less than you would if the strain was fluctuating – which I think it normally is – hence the sensation of strain during my run normally. During the day, it was strange not to feel my legs being overly tired or fatigue so much so that I couldn’t relate to the fact that I’d done my run this morning.

So what changed? My diet has not changed.

The only things that stand out was that I left at 7am instead of the usual 8am. After my previous run(two days prior) I took some advice and went for a 10 minute walk after my run and raised my legs for a further 10 minutes. This was to help me recover after my first run in which as you can see, warranted me taking action to reduce the effects of which a run has on me. I also slightly massaged my legs. Can that have been enough to affect my next run? Doubtful. I’m not sure what changed really. Perhaps I’m getting fitter and if that’s the case, then getting fitter is a great feeling and if it relates to the reduction of strain under effort – then I’m very happy about it. It feels like I’ve levelled up!

Todays run: