Winning Back What I Lost

9PM: Didn't sleep very well so I put my run off until this evening. One of the nicest evenings in quite a while, temp near 40 w/ little to no wind. General aerobic run w/ 10 x 100m strides (6:50ish pace).  A pretty good workout and I felt like I could have gone much longer and run much harder- but that's pretty normal for a Monday. 

8PM: Another weekday half marathon in the dark.  I know I keep saying this but this running in the dark thing is really starting to wear on my psyche.  It's almost as bad as running on the TM.  I guess I could remedy this by running right after work but I'm really not brave enough to get home from work and then take off on a 13M run. 

Noon: Solved my phobia of running in the dark w/ a midday run near the office.  It was supposed to be a short recovery run after last night's medium long run but I got an itch to run up Shaw Mtn. Rd just to remind myself of what I'd be in for next month.  Ran it very slow on the way up and took it easy on the way down.  Message received- I need to a) shed more lbs; and b) do more hill/strength training.

545AM:  Got a really good night's sleep.  Planned on running outside but all of my outside gear was in the wash.  The training plan called for 11M general aerobic run but I could not hang.  Felt good but not great. 3 of my kids are fighting colds and I'm starting on one myself. Luckily, I'm still taking an antibiotic for my root canal and its helped me to ward off the worst of what would likely be a nasty sore throat and congestion. 

Funny anecdote: Told my dad that I wanted to drop 20 lbs before my marathon in June and he said that if I'm successful he'd buy me a nice dress to celebrate.  That's the funny thing about runners.  To the "layperson," we don't look overweight. But most of us non-elites constantly do battle with the feeling that we are.  We say, "If I could just drop another 5 or 10 lbs I would feel so much better when I run."  Then we reach that goal and realize that, big surprise, running is still taxing.  So we vow to drop some more weight and the cycle repeats itself.  I guess this could qualify as a type of psychosis.  But so long as I'm cognizant of that fact and its rooted in efficiency rather than vanity it's not as much of a problem, right?   

830PM:  Easy recovery run on the TM. Started slow and finished strong. Tomorrow's long run is going to require some logistical gymnastics. My wife is in the hospital and returning home tomorrow so it may be difficult to sneak away until the late evening.