Morning Run

I got my butt out the door this morning for a run. Twice, technically, as it's challenge enough for me to get out of bed at 5:30 am, so I can catch the 6:00 am train to DC to go to the gym. But this morning, I caught the early train, dropped my stuff at my locker, and walked past the treadmills blinking happily at me, and through the back door to the great outdoors, feet hitting the pavement, hands tucked into my sleeves to ward off the cold.

My initial goal was to make it to Natural History before turning back.  But when I got there, I looked up and saw how very close I was to the Washington Monument and I kept running.  I would have liked to have run right up and hugged the monument before turning back.  But the scaffolding around the bottom was a little preclusive, so I waved from across the street before garnering everything I had to get back up Capitol Hill.

The view from 1.7 miles:



When looking across the Mall at the Capitol Building, it doesn't really seem like "The Hill" is really all that hilly.  That my friends, is an illusion.  The Capitol is most certainly atop a hill.  And that hill begins its incline right at my most tired point. 

The view from 2.5 miles:



But I took a breath, set my shoulders and got up it. The rest of the run was a very welcome downhill.  I made it back to the gym in 43 minutes, having run 3.4 miles.  I would have run that distance in about 34 minutes on the treadmill, but I did get caught at what felt like every single stoplight on the way.  And I did have a few points where some running buddies would have kept my pace up.

So what I'm trying to say is... I think I'll finish the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race two weeks from now.  I just want to finish.  I have no illusions of suddenly running 8 minute miles or something crazy like that.  I just want to finish.