Please, Make the Noise Stop!

A slight change in plans today.

Last night I painstakingly mapped out a 6 mile route that I wanted to run today.  And I was excited about it.  I drank extra water during the evening to make sure I would be well-hydrated for it (and got up twice during the night!) and I dreamed about it.

But today when I got up, my confidence was shaky.  I was concerned that my quads might fail me when I was 3 miles away from the house and I would have to hobble home... after the 3 hour bike ride yesteday, they were like jelly, and although they felt okay this morning, I was worried about them.

I decided that 6 miles is pretty much the same thing as 10 km so I decided to run my recent 5km route twice.  That way  I would never get too far away from the house and I would still accomplish my distance goal today.  I could run it once and then change direction and run it the opposite way so it would seem different.

I set out just after 9 a.m. and loped along quite happily, checking my stride occasionally, making sure my feet were pointing straight ahead, checking my heart rate and trying to keep slowing myself down....  at about the 4 km mark I really started to notice the noise in my head... the chatter...

oh look at that cute dog
if I run a bit faster I can finish the first 5 km in 40 minutes
no I am not supposed to worry about speed today
I am thirsty, better have a sip of water
oh good, here is my turnaround point
hey buddy, don't you see me?  stop backing out of your driveway... and hey, you aren't supposed to talk on your cell phone while you're driving anyway!
this hill is steep I better slow down
do I need to push the WALK button at that interection or can I just scoot across the street
better push the button and wait
hurry up light
okay
nice car
oh I better get back on the sidewalk
nice that this walk is asphalt not concrete
I hate running on concrete
look all all the moms and kids in the park today
and lotsa dads too
school starts next Tuesday
oh the water spouts just came on, that kid is gonna freeze!
maybe I should stop at the washroom in the park
which door is the Ladies?
it's so quiet here when the soccer fields are empty
I saw those women when I was going the other way
beautiful sunflowers
hi doggie
maybe I should think of a song to hum
don't stop thinking about tomorrow... who sang that?   Fleetwood Mac,  I don't like Fleetwood Mac, why did I think of that song?
what else can I think of? 


and on and on and on it went.

I finished my 10 km (which I discovered is actually 6.25 miles) in 87 minutes and was thrilled to be feeling so good at the end.

I came in and made the best smoothie ever to drink while I stretched. 

Vanilla Almond Breeze, almond butter, banana, bit of Splenda

And I slathered some more Almond Butter on a Wasa cracker.... lovely.

W4R87W4
stretch 5 minutes

And NOW I am feeling my quads.

Do you have this kind of noise going on in your head when you run alone?


I know that if I listened to music it would stop... but I already wear a watch, a Road ID bracelet, a water belt and sometimes a heart rate monitor... do I really want to ad a MP3 player to all that, too?   Decisions....