Where is the love?

Dear Running,

WTF?  I know we've been together a long time and we may not appreciate each other as much as we used to.  But that doesn't mean we still don't mean as much to each other.  The past few weeks have been unpleasant to say the least.  You make it really hard to enjoy your company.  My legs are deadweight and my mind is screaming at me to quit and cry.  I don't think I've ever struggled as much as I am with you now.  We made it through Cherry Blossom together and I thought that was the breakthrough we needed.   I guess I didn't realize the extent of the situation.  We've got a big day coming up, a half marathon, in just 9 days and we really need to be on the same page.  Lets both step back and take stock of things, sleep on it, and come back together in the morning, ok?

Love,

Pam

So yeah, today's lunchtime run was not great. Against my better judgement I did my Mall loop. I managed 3.9 miles in 35:56.  It sounds good, but there were stops for traffic lights and a few pictures, which meant stopping the watch since I wasn't actually running.  I don't think I could have maintained the pace nonstop, which is discouraging.  I wanted to walk after the first mile. I forgot to use any of my words or mantras.  Aside from the scenery, there wasn't much to smile about.  DC and I will never be tight, too much has gone down between us, but I will never get tired of runs that include stuff like this:

Aside from the shoddy cell phone camera skills, running around the monuments rocks.  It even makes dodging clueless tourists tolerable.  This was my first run with the phone, since I generally hate carrying anything in my hands while I run.  But fellow bloggers I enjoy seem to capture lots of pictures on their runs and I thought I'd join in.  We'll see if I keep it up, for the duration of today's run the phone ended up stuffed in my sports bra.  Seems to have survived all the boob sweat, for now. :)  I need to get back to my actual job and finish out the day, so I'll leave you with this: me before the run, blissfully unaware of impending suck.

Take care of you!