Fall is here

So what if it has been in the upper 80s and 90s here the last few days?  Fall is definitely here.  The kids have started school and the tell tale sign of fall - morning darkness - is upon us.

I had to get up and at 'em early this morning to fit in my 80 minute workout before the kids had to get moving for school and John had to leave for work.

So I popped out of bed at 4:30 (okay, I actually hit snooze 2x and didn't drag myself out of my warm, wonderful bed until 4:50) and got ready for my workout du jour: Strength Intervals.

I had a 10 minute warm up on tap, then 3 x 2 miles at 7:23 pace; .5 recoveries; 10 minute cool down.  I felt pretty good and headed out the door.  It was pitch black, raining pretty good and super windy.  Whatever, I've got this.  About half a mile in I heard the rumble of thunder.  Since it was pitch black, I decided I'd just run 1 mile as a warmup and then start my workout (I couldn't see the numbers, but my Garmin would vibrate at 1 mile and I'd know to take off).

I started out on my first strength interval set and the sky lit up with lightning.  BOOM!  Yup, the thunder was pretty close.  So I turned back towards home and hit the house with only 1 mile in.

I thought about doing it tonight - nope - I am coaching Girls on the Run and then John will be out so I'm on my own with the boys.  Well I could do it tomorrow - nope, I have MP miles on Friday and it would be a bad idea to to them back to back.

Dang, I need to finish this up on the treadmill.

So downstairs I went and got it done.  It wasn't easy.  I always mentally struggle on the treadmill.  But admittedly, it was nice because the treadmill did all the pacing work for me (how convenient: 8.1 mph - 7:24 pace).  I also turned on Spirit of the Marathon on my iPad to help pass the time.  I hit my paces and got in 8 miles on the treadmill, bringing me up to 10 miles for the morning.

All in all, it was not a bad way to start the morning.  I don't know why, but I always feel a bit tougher after fighting through a treadmill run.  Bring on the day.