Doing the work

There wasn't anything pleasant or idealistic about my Christmas morning run. It was 10 miles of disgusting slogging through freezing rain. I had to do it.
Initially I had planned to run the Christmas loop with Alex (see Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #5, coming soon), but he was planning on doing it in the afternoon and I was busy then, so I would up running alone. My mom and I drove out to Schenley Park, she ran around the golf course and I did most of my Beechwood loop, starting shortly after my normal six-mile mark. It was somewhat dispiriting to be nearing the end of a well-worn route but be much farther from the end. It didn't get much better when I was actually approaching the end- the driving rain made my legs numb and it wasn't fun at all.
The truth is, I feel like I still progressed because I did the entire run. I could have easily given up and taken the shortest route back to the park and my mom would have been pleased to go home early, but I just kept moving around the loop, dodging chunks of ice in the street and constantly on the lookout for slippery stretches.
That I just did the work is an encouraging development- that I am mentally tough enough to execute my training plans, however simple, in the face of miserable conditions. Enough of those days strung together might mean some improvement.
After staying up late on Christmas Eve, I'm ready to get to bed early and rest pretty well for 10 miles tomorrow around North Park with Hans and which ever Hounds show up.