I didn’t mean for it to happen this way, but I wound up having 2 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. And a glass of 2% milk. That wasn’t supposed to be breakfast, but I got too caught up in work email to notice how quickly time was passing. By the time I came up for air, it was after noon and I hadn’t had anything to eat.

I poured myself a small glass of orange juice (not so much that it will keep popping up to remind me it’s there) and chugged it down. I filled up my two tiny water bottles and grabbed a vanilla Gu and stuffed it in my utility belt. All the cool runners have utility belts with water bottles, food, etc. on hand at all times. I must be cool, because I have one too.

I have this crazy idea that if I start my run with a quick cadence that the rest of the run will be faster. I’m not sure it’s true or false yet, but I am happier with my overall performance today than with most of my previous runs (even those where my final time was very similar to today’s time). So I may play around with that some more.

I pushed pretty hard through that first mile that has nothing but uphill. It’s not super steep or anything, but it always seems to kill me. Maybe it’s because I hit the hill right as I start out the gate? I don’t know, but it kills me. Today was no exception. After pushing through that first mile, I found myself walking a bit on that second mile.

I did pull it together again, though I felt slow through the end of mile 3. Then I sucked down my vanilla Gu and felt energized. At first I just told myself I had to run now that I had used the Gu, but then I genuinely felt like I had more energy. But not only that, I felt like my form was pretty good. I was looking pretty far down the road, breathing well, and none of my joints or limbs were hurting at all. It was really great. I kept that up all the way to the end of mile 5 and the bottom of the hill.

I didn’t walk up the hill though. I managed to jog up most of it. I did walk one of the steeper sections, but the rest of it was all jogging and/or running. I still had a lot of juice left when I hit the home stretch, and I was feeling great. My time wasn’t amazing or anything, but the feeling I had those last 3 or 4 miles was really great. I wish I felt that way every time I ran.