Becky Crocker

Laying on my couch, hair still damp from my shower, waiting for my chocolate cake to bake. What a difference a week makes. I wasn't sure how I was going to get through today's run. I've been a bit more stressed than usual lately and had a terrible night sleep last night. I almost wussed out of today's run, but as my sister so accurately stated, "You'll be grumpy if you don't." And she's right.

So, now for the third consecutive week, I've met the Philly Runners crew down by the Art Museum for their Saturday morning loop. And just like the last two weeks, I found myself running alone for the vast majority of the time. I was more okay with this today than I had been in past weeks; lots kickin' around in my mind to mull over.

The last two weeks I've done this run have been difficult. I felt like I was struggling to hold onto 8:40 miles and by the time the sixth mile rolled around, I had felt like I hit the wall. With that history in mind, I made a conscious effort to not pressure myself too much about the pace for those initial two or three miles. I made a point of trying to run comfortably. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was averaging right around 8:30 miles and I felt good.

In the dozens of times I have run the Art Museum loop, I have usually run up Kelly Drive first. The Philly Runners go the other way. Psychologically, I don't like this change. My body and mind are accustomed to the other direction and while this may not seem like a big deal, it's taken some getting used to for me. Not sure why I'm even mentioning it, other than it's interesting to me how much of a difference that seems to make.

Crossing over Falls Bridge, my legs were feeling tired, but not like I wanted to stop and I was encouraged to see that my mile splits were remaining fairly consistent. Around the two mile mark, two folks from Philly Runners caught up with me. We chatted a bit and I was able to hang with them for the better part of the next mile, but then they were gone and I was fine with that. Actually, I was thankful to have had them pull me through that seventh mile since that is where I've kind of pooped out the last two weeks. Overall, a better run than the previous two weekend loops.

Cake should be done soon.

8.5 in 71 minutes.