Relax And Enjoy The Run

I don’t know where I first heard that phrase, but I do remember thinking it was crazy. How can you “relax” during a run?  But in the 10 years that I’ve been running, I’ve come to understand and believe in it as a way to approach running. Today was one of those runs when I reminded myself to relax and enjoy my run.

After unseasonably warm weather last weekend, we had *perfect* running weather this morning:

Right Now in Alexandria, VA
It’s 51°F, Cloudy

My stomach was a bit unsettled, so I opted for some whole grain crackers with a bit of peanut butter for breakfast. By 6:30 I was headed for the bike path, and at 6:50 I hit “start” on my Garmin.

I had planned on 10 miles, so instead of heading out to “kick ass” I had to pace myself. I think I did pretty well, with these mile splits:

9:39 – 9:06 – 9:18 – 9:23 – 9:10 – 9:37 – 9:27 – 9:16 – 9:22 – 9:12

(After the first, warm-up mile, the “slowest” miles were hilliest. )

I felt good during my warm-up mile. Nothing hurt, nothing twinged, and my pace was solid. I felt fine during the next few miles too, but I wondered why I didn’t feel great. Maybe I was more worried about the 10 mile distance than I thought. Or maybe work stress was weighing on my mind.

I reminded myself to “relax and enjoy the run”–if I had any expectations about hitting a certain pace, I was meeting them, so there was no pressure. I soaked in the gorgeous weather and started to notice the wildflowers and the blossoms on the trees–and then I was thankful that my allergies weren’t acting up!

Soon after I hit mile 5, I noticed that I was feeling great. Maybe because I had been thinking about going shopping with my daughter when she gets home from college (next week!), or because I had been day dreaming about my work trip to Key Biscayne at the end of June (a conference with most afternoons free!), or maybe I finally was relaxing and enjoying the run–it all just “clicked.”

I ended up finishing my run in 1:33 (9:21 avg. pace).

I took time to stretch at the park, and then headed home for coffee.  As the day wore on, I kept noticing how good I felt. No piriformis issues! No ITB pain! Now that will make any good run great.

Does it take you a while to find your groove in a long run?

What are your favorite running sayings?