Yesterday my brain was just beat. Mentally and emotionally exhausted. There was a part of me that wanted to just skip my run, mainly due to the negativity that was wearing down my logical thought processes. Fortunately I had already promised my friend Jimmy that I would run with him in the evening, so I had committed to getting in the run.
We met at a local park and started our running. After a short distance, we came across another guy who asked us if we were from the Las Vegas Ultra Running Club (a group we’ve got going on Facebook to hopefully connect other runners with group runs in the LV area). The guy is from Ohio, visiting Vegas for a month and was looking for groups to run with. Vegas is an interesting place to try finding runners in the summer, a lot of the more populous running groups tend to dwindle in numbers through the summer heat.
Photo I took in August 2005 of a storm brewing over the desert.
Anyway, we ran a little with this guy but after 2.6 miles Jimmy called it quits. I can’t blame him, he’d already run 21 miles that morning, so really running with me was more of a “courtesy run” that evening.
After saying good-bye to Jimmy, I ran another couple laps around the park, 1.5 of them with this guy from Ohio.
After this I got in my car to drive back home. As I was driving, I still felt a little antsy. I knew I was feeling better, but the gloom wasn’t quite all “fixed”. Upon arriving home, I pulled my car into the garage, immediately got out of the car and hit the road again.
Running in the dark was wonderful. The temps had dropped to around 98 degrees, combined with the fact that the sun wasn’t beating on me the run felt great. I need to run in the dark more often.
I ran another 3.3 miles around my neighborhood. Everything about it just clicked. My legs seemed to turnover in a smooth, fluid motion. My heart was beating, but didn’t feel like I was exerting myself too much. My breathing was hard, but not labored.
I finally felt better. The pressure was released… and it just took 8.73 miles to get there.
i know, i know, with the sun gone it does make a difference. definitely makes you even more hardcore in my book! nice job on the run and beating the funk out 
