Sometimes it's best to go with your instincts

There I was, sitting in front of my computer at 3:30 AM, again failing to get a good nights sleep. I thought about going for a run, talked myself out of it and then talked myself into it again. Once I decided that I was going, there was no turning back.

Even though I told myself that I should be resting, I honestly didn't have a choice as everything inside of me was saying "run." My stress levels have been very high as my race is now exactly 1 week away. I don't only run to train for races, I run because it's my time away from everything else. It gives me that escape that I need and allows me to process things without distractions. I have yet to find something else that duplicates what running does for me.

I had no idea what kind of run I was going to have, or even how far I wanted to go, so I packed up 2 water bottles and a sports gel just to be on the safe side. I opted for shorts as the temperature was 5 degrees. When I stepped outside and took those first few steps, after taking yesterday off, it felt like I was "home" again. I don't know why I had so much energy this morning as I'm still doing the Isagenix cleanse and haven't been getting much sleep. The run today felt effortless and I felt as if I could have run forever. I took a different route here and there, ran mostly on the roads (did I mention I felt fearless at 5:00 AM too?) and only took one walk break where normally I would have taken about 3. I purposely didn't look at my watch throughout the run as I didn't want to be confined today. Everytime I passed a different checkpoint where I would normally stop and walk I talked myself out of stopping and just kept running. When I checked my mileage after my run, I realized that I had done almost 10 miles in about 5-7 minutes faster than I normally would go.

Today's run wasn't about training, it was more about just remembering why I run in the first place. Maybe that's exactly what I need to remember as I head into my race week. If I can just relax next Saturday and think of this race as just an opportunity to spend some time in the place I love the most (Seaton Trail) then I should be fine. Now, if only I could get some sleep......