Tempo Thursday...Kind Of.

Tonight was round three in the battle of Molly versus Cobb's Hill.  I'd be lying if I said that I was excited going into tonight's workout.  Tempo run + hill....not my idea of the best run ever.  The one thing that did get me excited tonight?

Realizing that my sweet new jacket converts into an even sweeter vest. 

Well, at least I looked good for my battle tonight.  Having run 9 miles in the past two days, my legs were pretty tired and felt really heavy.  Throw Cobb's Hill in the mix, and the "tempo" portion of this run quickly went out the window.  I definitely struggled.  

Today the struggle was more physical than mental.  Although, mentally I did find two things that really discourage just plain annoy me.  One: seeing people run down the hill that you've only just begun to run up.  Watching these speed demons exit the reservoir when you are entering is just not fun.  Two: run/walkers who always end up ahead of you.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against people who run/walk up a hill.  It's just so dang annoying when you're running the whole time and the run/walker passes you.  Whatever.

Anyways, I finished with an average pace of 12:03 -- definitely not a tempo pace that's for sure.  I was surprised to see that was my pace because it was definitely a challenging 3.5 miles.  Garmin, are you sure I didn't run faster than that??

I guess the beauty of running is that you never really know what you're gonna get!  It's the tough runs like today that make me appreciate the good runs so much more.  Having these tough runs and still (excitedly) hitting the pavement the next day for more?  I think I can officially call myself a runner now.