Distracted

I don't really remember today's run. And I finished about 20 minutes ago.

After my 20 mile victory on Saturday (yes, I'm still riding that wave), I spent a good portion of the next couple hours on the couch, trying to regain control over my legs. After that, we went to see a movie, headed to the mall for a few, and then returned home for a bit before my show. Once that was over, we came home, I finished a book, and then I went to sleep.

About 7.5 hours later, I heard the dog moving around, and since I already owed my wife tremendously for her help on Friday night, I got up to take the pup outside. Once she had completed her business, we both returned to bed. Another hour passed, and I heard my mother-in-law moving around, so the dog and I relocated to the living room where we took part in the goodbyes before going to sleep on the couch.

I slept for another two hours, and then watched some tennis while I started reading a new book. Eventually, I switched the television over to baseball and focused less on the book and more on the game. When I decided to return my attention to the book, I shut off the TV and laid down again. Rain started coming down outside (which is rare these days), so I set the book down and just listened for a while. Then more sleep.

The wife came to join me on the couch. More sleep.

At some point, I realized what time it was and got ready for last night's show, but I truly relished yesterday. I spent most of it asleep, but I don't feel like I wasted the day at all. Sometimes, you just need a day filled with sports, reading and naps. It even made it a little easier to tolerate the loud neighbors at 2 a.m., since they were only loud for a minute or two and I was able to fall asleep again right away.

And when the alarm went off this morning, I was in perfectly good spirits. My SpiBelt destroyed, I had to carry my keys with me as I left the house, but that's a fairly mild inconvenience. I had fortunately remembered to move my running clothes to the dryer before I went to bed last night, so I pulled out a pair of shorts and a pair of socks, and I hit the road.

By giving myself only about ten minutes between waking up and leaving the apartment, I never really gave my brain a chance to wake up, which seems to have been exactly what I needed. I vaguely remember correcting my stride a few times today, I only got stopped by one stoplight the entire way, though there were a couple close calls, and other than that, I don't recall any details from the workout. The entire way, I was going through certain things in my head, figuring out my schedule for the summer, fantasizing about a theatre career, visualizing the flight to Seattle, and in no way paying attention to what I was doing. I was genuinely surprised to find myself at the four mile mark when I did. Even more so when I realized I'd already done the difficult part of the half mile hill at the end of the road.

So begins my tapering. Hal's got me dropping mileage for the next three weeks, but the big thing that is stressed is that only quantity is tapering. Quality should remain right where it was. Evidently, the key to the quality of my run is not paying any attention to it.

At least, that's what worked today.

Monday's Run:
71 Degrees / Clear
5.05 Miles
36 Minutes, 35 Seconds