Day 5: The Mental Hurdle

Some beard growth helps for added warmth

Today was the toughest day so far to get out the door. I thought about running early this morning, but was discouraged when I saw that the temperature with wind chill was 16 degrees. I ended up procrastinating and due to the short days, I missed the chance to run in daylight all together. I contemplated taking the day off as I'm well above pace to reach my weekly goal mileage. Around 7:30 PM I decided that I would go out for a run. I wasn't feeling to sore from the weeks runs or the gym last night so I decided to go out and play it by ear.

Since it was 25 degrees, but very little wind, I dressed in double layers and a pair of running pants. This run I put on a watch. Once again, I dressed perfectly for the weather and didn't overheat at all. The facial hair I've been growing for the last 2 weeks really helped out as well.After taking the first mile in 7:27, I loosened up pretty well and didn't look at the watch again until I was done. I started out the same way as my first run of the journey, looping around my old high school. I decided to go out towards Levittown to keep the run interesting. I ran through several different sections of the city before venturing back to Fairless Hills. The names of the sections alone should be enough to describe the terrain I commonly run on. My run started in Fairless Hills, continued into Magnolia Hill, cut through Birch Valley to get to Thornridge, crossed over into Vermillion Hills and finished up back in Fairless Hills.

Cutting through all these neighborhoods, I usually experience a couple stoppages due to traffic. Luckily tonight, I caught every light and my run was uninterrupted. By the time I made it into Vermillion Hills, I was moving at a pretty good pace. I pushed through the final hill and made it back to my house in 40:37. I mapped out the distance online and it was exactly 6 miles. The result of the run that I thought about not doing, my longest and fastest run of the week. I averaged 6:38 for the last 5 miles of the run and felt great throughout the entire process. Like my college coach Bob Hamer used to write on every summer workout plan, "The hardest step is the first."