the hour mark

Went out on a bridge run this morning. For some reason I was faster than usual. I used to time myself on this seven-mile run with the stopwatch function on my wristwatch. I would stop the timer at stoplights or other delays – the train crossing, giving people directions (why do people stop runners to ask for directions?), etc. Then the battery died in my watch. This was probably over a year ago. And since I haven’t bothered to replace the battery I haven’t known my exact times throughout that period. Sometimes I look at the clock before I head out to get an idea of my pace, and sometimes I don’t. I think I’ve been running a lot slower lately because I haven’t been on the timer.

Today, I was considering a longer run, but didn’t want to let myself leave the house without proper fuel to sustain me through that extra time and distance. And, the clean clothes I had, didn’t have pockets so I just left home without any food/gel/sugar and decided to keep it short. So, anyway, maybe the part of me that wanted to go for a long run stepped up so that I could at least push myself a little harder on a short run.

What I’m trying to say here is that I did the bridge run in under an hour this morning (running time, not running time like jogging time, running time like the clock didn’t stop, I looked at the clock before and after, now I’m just making things more confusing, I think they know what running time is). And, although I haven’t really been keeping close track of timing lately, I think that’s about the best time I’ve had for that run all year. I guess this points to a long year of running, but could also be related to taking my vitamins again after several months off, or my greater attention to form and the mechanics of the running stride, or the past two days of rest, or… I don’t know, maybe a good run is a good run – no need to examine it.