This morning the remnants of Hurricane Dorian were going by…luckily for us it was out to sea enough so that all we ended up getting was some minor rain and cloudiness. We really lucked out on that one!

Still the temps were in the very low 50s and we definitely needed long sleeve shirts and a light jacket during the dog walk this morning. However, when I got out to run, I wore just a t-shirt and shorts and came back fairly sweaty, so it was the correct choice.

Today was supposed to be a longer run, but after last night’s drive over to Berlin, NH and back, I was still pretty tired, so I decided to shorten it up a bit and figured that I would run down to Notta Road for an easier 5.0 miles.

Mary headed out the door ahead of me, while I did a few things to get ready. Once I got going, I just ran easy through the first mile and when I got down to the tar, I spied a quick glimpse of a bright yellow shirt up ahead. I figured that I would attempt to pick up the speed and see if I could catch Mary.

Now I don’t usually run all that fast in the Beacon 2s, they just do not feel fast to me most of the time. However, I have not run in them all week and I wanted to see how they felt at a quicker pace than usual.

No, I did not catch Mary, she turned around at the old dump, but I did pick up the pace fairly well and kept going towards Notta Road. Somewhere along the way, I decided that I could keep a decent pace for a while longer and when I got to the turn-around, I just kept going.

At that point, I thought I might as well do a harder pace for 10K and see how long I could keep it up. It did help when I turned around that the breeze was now at my back. I was doing really good and felt strong after the tar on the first dirt road bump and then was able to catch a 3rd best time on the Stevens Hill segment.

So while it was not a super speedy 10K, it showed me that I have a bit more stamina than I have had for a while and the hills didn’t kill me like they usually do. The Beacon 2s did just fine and while they will never be go fast form me shoes, I know that I can go faster in them when I want/need to.

Overall, it is not the run I was expecting when I started out and sometimes those are the best one. I think the tiredness was more mental fatigue from all the driving than physical, so once I got past that the run went quite well. I did focus on just my running and didn’t let my thoughts wander all over the place, which I believe helps me to run better too.

I think that is a bigger part of the picture sometimes, if I go out and just let my mind wander on all kinds of things, my runs serve a different purpose, than when I am focusing on monitoring how I am feeling, how quiet my footsteps are, what my arms are doing, if I am leaning slightly and not slouching during the run.

Both are good and necessary, but to run better, I have to focus on me running and not much else. Staying in the moment I am in.