Sometimes it just sucks!

The only thing good about yesterday's run is that it is over.

I ran with a friend yesterday (a new Wednesday thing) and we went on a new route...still a 3-miler, but with a lot of gradual hills throughout. It pretty much sucked from the first step. I was running a little bit late to meet her, so I skipped my before run stretch and I felt it right away.

I was hot, but I've run in hotter weather before.

I was tired, but I had a fairly good night's sleep the night before.

I was hungry, even though I had my morning snack.

There was no good identifiable reason for this run to be "sub-par".

I didn't even really feel like talking because I felt out of breath immediately. I shared my thoughts with my running partner who confirmed that "yeah, sometimes you just don't feel that great, but those are the runs you have to push through". Just as I suspected - sometimes it just sucks! Eventually, we came towards the end of the route and there was an option to shorten it and my friend asked me if I wanted to end the run more quickly than we planned. At first, I said "yes" with relief, but then I thought about it for another split second and decided to push through the entire run. She asked me again if I was sure and I said "yes, I need to do this". This may not seem like a huge deal to you, but it was a small victory for me.

We don't always know why things "just suck" sometimes, but they do. When the going gets tough, I refuse to quit. Sometimes it just sucks, but that is when it is even more important to push through it. It makes the "good runs" on the track and in life all the more enjoyable too.