Beer, Brats, and Running

I got an email from my brother on Friday announcing that he is running the Madison Marathon on May 24 and that I should do it, too.

My immediate response was that no way could I be ready for 26.2 miles in that short an amount of time (despite Andy’s arguments that Steve Runner is training for Boston in just five weeks). But then I realized that although I couldn’t do the full marathon, I could run the half.

The more I thought about it, the cooler the idea was. I am running a trisko (“half marathon”) two weeks before at the Quad Cities Distance Classic, but that seems like plenty of time to recover from 13.1 miles. My favorite aunt and uncle live in Madison, so we’d get to stay with them. I'll get to hang out with my brother. The race is at the same time as the bratwurst festival in Madison, so a post-race beer and brat is a done deal. And the race is Memorial Day weekend. Steve will be working that weekend, so Jack and I could take a road trip and have a Mommy-Son adventure.

Next thing you know, I’m signing on the dotted line and registering for the race.
There has also been an interesting side effect to all of this.

I went for my long run yesterday. Since my mojo’s been missing for a couple of weeks now, I decided to just run 10 (rather than the 11-12 I had planned) and to run it at a very relaxed pace. Paula-Garmin went in my pocket so I wouldn’t be distracted by her. The fact that it was cold and windy out reinforced that decision.
So, I did it. I ran 10 miles. And guess what you guys? It felt good! It was not a miserable suck-fest slog. I felt happy and strong and awesome. My 9:30 pace (Paula-Garmin may have been in my pocket, but she was still on) was not as fast as my previous sub-9:00 10-miler, but it was still totally respectable for me.

The mojo was back, and all I needed was a little extra something to be excited about.

Chasing Mojo

Good morning, interwebs. I am still in Minneapolis for work and still, as faithful sexy readers know, trying to regain my Running Mojo after some disappointing sessions.

I went to bed last night planning on getting up at 5:30 and running again. At 5:30? I reset the alarm for 6:00. But then at 6:00, I decided to lace up the shoes and give it a go on one condition: no treadmill.

My strategy for regaining that elusive Running Mojo is to make running fun, and let's face it: that is not going to happen on a treadmill in a hotel gym where I have nothing to look at but a tiny screen playing Saved by the Bell and a wall of mirrors.

I layered up and headed outside, where it was in the 30's (yes, in April) and snowing lightly (again, Minnesota). I brought Paula Garmin with me, but kept her in my pocket, reminding myself that the point wasn't speed or distance, but the joy of running. This being Minnesota, I quickly found a beautiful lake, surrounded by snow-covered trees, and ran around it.

The setting was beautiful. I have heard many people muse that they can't imagine living in the Midwest, especially not the upper Midwest like Minnesota, but I can definitely see its charms. I saw bunnies running across the path, and for much of the way, the only footprints on the snow were mine.

As for the run? It was not one of those runs where, at the end, you feel amazing and want to spend the entire day telling everyone about how great it was. But it was pretty good. A solid, average effort.

Next up is Sunday's group run. I'm going to run 10 miles, which should be plenty far in advance of my trisko ("half marathon") on May 10, and I will run it at whatever the hell pace I feel like.

I'm coming after you, Running Mojo. Prepare to be chicked.

How the Mighty Have Fallen

Not so long ago, I was at the top of my game. I was blazing out tempo runs and track workouts, then turning around and rocking out 10 miles at sub-9:00 pace. I was amazing, Kenyan-fast, invincible!

Then, it turned out that I was very much... vincible.

My fall from grace started with a 4 mile tempo run. To put it succinctly, I sucked. I felt slow, heavy, and leaden. I couldn't step things up to save my life. What should have been a relatively easy run turned into a slog.

I tried to shake it off. We are all allowed one bad run, right? I resolved to make my next run as fun as possible. I was scheduled to do a 5 x 1K track workout, so to mix things up, I ran on the path by the river, rather than on the track. That way I'd have beautiful scenery to admire, geese to dodge... all that good stuff.

It turned out that run sucked, too.

It was ridiculously cold out, and within minutes, my frozen paws were shoved into my gloves and my butt felt numb. The wind was so strong that I had to bend my head forward to drive into it. 5 x 1K turned into 5 x "Okay, I can run to that tree up there and then stop."

I have said a million times that everyone can have a bad run every now and again, and I mean it. But two in a row really felt lousy. I was in a bad mood all day, and on Sunday, I decided to skip my long run. It was still cold and windy out, and I wanted no part of yet another discouraging workout.

I really need to get my running mojo back. Complicating matters is the fact that I am in Minnesota for three days this week, so my normal routine is thrown off. My plan is to get in two runs while I'm here and to just make them fun. To hell with distance, pace, all of that. I need to get out there and feel good about it, period.

Today was the first attempt, and I can only give it a C-. Cold weather and wind are still plotting against me, and rather than face my kryptonite, I headed for the treadmill in the hotel gym. Running on the treadmill is un-fun by definition, but I really needed to get my legs moving. I mixed it up a bit by throwing in some fact quarter miles.

It felt okay. Not great, not strong, not invicible, but okay. Which is at least better than lousy.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

What about you? How do you regain your running mojo?