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Thursday, April 23, 2009

An Immutable Law

It's a truth, universally acknowledged, that if you are a runner, in possession of a regular running schedule, you will find that in the end, the quality of those runs is random.

Most of the time, you will have runs that are of consistent quality, but every now and then, you'll have a run that's just shit, and then, a few days later, you'll have a run that is simply fabulous. There's no explaining this phenomenon. It just is. And, I'm here to inform you that this holds true when you're a pregnant runner as well.

Case in point:

On Tuesday, I had one of those shit runs. Nothing was particularly wrong with it; it just felt slow and hard and awful. But then after the day off yesterday, I hit the path tonight and had one of the best runs that I've had in a long time. I felt fast (well, preggo-fast, which is a kind of fast that's best measured against snails and turtles) and kick ass!

Now, the conditions for the two runs were nearly identical: Same time of day, same weather, and the same eating and hydration patterns. So, no outside factor can be attributed to the difference in quality between the runs -- it's simply a matter of running roulette!

21 comments:

Erin said...

I so completely agree. Drives me crazy!

Slow Poke said...

I also find that my runs are often contrary to expectation too. If I think I'm in for a shit run, I often surprise myself and find it's pretty good, and if I think I'm due for a good run, then it's probably going to be dreadful.

MCM Mama said...

I totally agree. Tonight was a case in point. I totally expected it to suck, but it was great. I'm just hoping I didn't use up my good run today, instead of at the race on Sunday LOL.

X-Country2 said...

I think once you come to peace with that, you're a much happier runner.

Unknown said...

Yep you are so right. It's completely random, so crazy!

Jess said...

So true! Glad your run was awesome though!

Aron said...

soooo true! but YAY for the awesome ones!

Carly said...

I am glad you had a great run. I could not agree more with you. At least the good runs are what keep us coming back for more.

Aka Alice said...

I LOVE good runs! (OK...that almost sounds like a toilet joke....hahahaha)

Glad you had a good pregger run and a late Happy B-day to you too!

L said...

I do agree with Slow Poke, oh expectations...

Although reading your post was one of those "noooooo! I had always thought that but never wanted anyone to actually say it aloud!"

Also, i hope I'm running when I'm preggers like you! It's very impressive! congrats to you :-) (on the running and the baby!)

C said...

Very true. And I love the P&P reference in the first sentence. :)

Casey said...

I usually blame it on the food I ate that day. Which is probably balogna, but it gives me hope that I can control the quality of my next run!

kristen said...

running roulette - I like that.

Anonymous said...

This post is so true! There are days when I feel great and think I am going to have a fabulous run and I suck and other times I am tired and worn out and have a great run. Don't get it!

Oz Runner said...

totally true...

Wes said...

Yes it is, and knowing that is one of the secrets to running love :-)

Lily on the Road said...

Yup, every run is different!!

TNTcoach Ken said...

I'm with Kristen, I like 'running roulette'. I'll use that and people will think I'm so creative.....

Marlene said...

I know. So incredibly frustrating (unless of course it's one of the GREAT runs).

Run For Life said...

Definitely how it goes. Sometimes it makes me insane!

sRod said...

I've pretty much got my weekday runs down. But the weekend long still manages to be a crap shoot