Valentine's Day/Long Run

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

This past week was pretty hectic with schoolwork and my job. Needless to say, I had fallen behind on my sleep - more so than normal. So, instead of getting up early to do my long run, I got 10.5 hours of sleep (which was about equal to the previous 2 nights in total). That helped a bit! Taking it easy (especially since yesterday was my rest day, which meant reading Bede's commentary on the Apocolypse and watching some tv) was great.

I had a quiet morning, which included reading Erasmus's In Praise of Folly and yoga. Then, I set out for my long run. Very nice day (I've been fortunate with the weather on my long run days) and lots of people (families, couples, kids) were out and about. Some guys were playing Ultimate on the National Mall, people were riding their bikes, etc.

My long run consists of running to the city, through the city, and then back. Each week, the run stays the same for the most part, but I had a bit at the end, so as to increase my mileage. This week, I needed to do 17-18 miles, and I got to 17.9 miles. It felt good, and I think had someone been standing there at the end and said, "You need to run 2 more miles," I think I could have done that.

As I go through the run, I have different checkpoints in my head. It's too overwhelming to think of the whole thing at once (it doesn't feel assuring when you've done 1 mile and realize, only 16 miles to go). Some of my checkpoints include: the Capitol, Washington & Lincoln monuments, Arlington Cemetery, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Full Yum restaurant on North Capitol. It's pretty nifty to have such beautiful buildings (Full Yum aside) to run towards.