Invigorating...

That's what my run was tonight. After a very long, highly-stressed day, it was just what I needed. My day was full of gloominess -- thanks to a day without sunshine, a 3-year old who didn't want to cooperate in any sense, a 10-month old who didn't want to nap, a husband who was sick, and errands that seemed they would never get done! Even my yoga this morning couldn't calm me... All day I just kept wishing it would clear up just so I could get my Wednesday run in. By late afternoon I was already planning on just going to the gym and getting on the treadmill, but I didn't really want to do that. But as I was cleaning up dinner, I noticed it wasn't raining anymore. The clouds were moving on. You could see the sun setting! God smiled on me! I gave the kids baths and put them to bed, then hurried to the back door to check the outside temp and make sure it was still clear. I got dressed for the chilly 39 degrees outside and took off...

The street was drier than I figured it would be. The moonlight was bright, the sky clear, and so many stars in the sky. I've really gotten to love running in the chilly darkness -- I feel free, away from it all, like I could run forever. It was exactly what I needed. Empowering, invigorating, blissful...

I did a full 5K and kept my pace about what I've been running -- ran it in 34:37, with an average mile time of 11:06 (first mile 10:53, second 11:38, third 10:39). Now I'll work on improving that time over the next 2.5 weeks, when I'll be timed in an official 5K race. My goal is to run it in 30-32 minutes. We'll see... :)

[Note: You can see my last five runs (uploaded to Nike+ thanks to its plugin and my iPod Nano) on the left side of this blog.]