Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Winter Means Always Running at Night*

Last week I decided I was going to do a 12M long run at some point over the weekend. Thank you ambitious self, I love when you set goals for me. Saturday morning my alarm went off early. I turned it off and went back to sleep.

Sunday morning was a reoccurrence of Saturday morning and no running occurred. Thank you slacker self for destroying the goals ambitious self sets, breaking a little more of his esteem each time.

But, because it is what they do, that stupid unwanted and unanswered long run hung around like a ghost all day Sunday. Just jawing at me. “You gonna get out there and run?”

“No.” I reply.

“You’re lazy, and you suck at Mario Kart.” It says.

“I’m not even training for anything right now so back off. Stupid long run.”

I’m proud to say that, despite its persistence, I managed to not run all weekend. But long runs are not so easily defeated. So, around 7pm last night, after finishing yoga, I began my usual 3M easy run; which started out a little fast for an ‘easy’ run and turned into 4M before I knew it.

Worse, I was running an out/back route, so that 4M was undoubtedly going to be an 8M run. And yet, I kept going until I surpassed the 6M mark.

Because it gets dark at 2pm these days, basically all runs are ‘night’ runs, even if it is only 8pm. And, to add upon my already oversized pile of stupid ideas building avalanche-like momentum, I was running the hilliest route I know. A combination of two hill routes I would never run together. Stupid Spike.

All of this brings me to the point of this post, or the crescendo if you will. I once read an article in Runners World wherein a runner claimed running hills at night is easier because you can’t see the top, and therefore you just keep running.

That’s bullsh#t. In my opinion. Stupid Monday night long run.



*That is, unless you are Nitmos and get to ‘work’ at home and can enjoy long lunches that involve quality runs.

9 comments:

Sun Runner said...

We've had this discussion before about being lazy (remote control just out of reach, what?) Or if you prefer to call it being a slacker, that's fine too. We, as marathon runners, earn the right to be lazy from time to time. Now is one of those times. I have run 3 times since NYC. NYC was over 2 weeks ago. Now who's a slacker?

But you know what's on the horizon as well as I. All the lazy Sundays are going to come to a screeching halt soon enough.

In the meantime I will continue to sleep in until 8:30 (omg!) on Saturday mornings.

The Boring Runner said...

Glad to hear that someone else's voices in their head tell them that they suck at video games. Mine does that - and tells me to burn things.

RW really missed the mark there. Hills are MUCH sucker at night.

Jen Feeny said...

Wait a second... you play Mario Kart with your long runs? WTF?!?!? I totally need to have a chat with mine now...

As for hills at night, I'm going to have to side with RW... I'd rather not see what's coming, I'd rather just run blind and hope the end is near!

Nitmos said...

When does it get dark? Always bright and sunny when I lace 'em up....like today at 11 AM for example.

Anonymous said...

This "dark when I wake up, dark when I get out of work" thing sucks, I agree.

I've found my Mario Kart play got much better when I abondoned the nunchuk and went with the old school controller.

Amy said...

In my experience... the hills are easier in the dark. I actually love running in the dark. Except... I tend to fall a lot when I run in the dark. Stupid sidewalk and potholes.

Nice job. I can't say I've ever gone out for a 3 mile run and ended up with 12. Such an overachiever.

The Laminator said...

I play Frogger with the cars when I run...Mario Kart is a bit too dangerous for me!

I agree...Hills don't seem as bad when it's totally dark and you're freaked out that you'll slip and fall on a trail somewhere in the middle of the night...

Frayed Laces said...

Yeah I call BS on that running at night thing. And Mario Kart? Maybe you should stick with tetris.

Ms. V. said...

Nighttime running? You should try our little Midnight Half. You'd never run when the sun goes down again!