Lost and Found Confidence

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There are days when I really have mixed feelings about an upcoming training run. I saw it pop up on my calendar a week ago: Easy Run, 2 hours on Sunday, and I knew that this was probably going to be my longest training run before the race in Frankfurt. The weather forecast looked decent, and I was really looking forward to seeing how I would fare over those two hours. After the winter break and a number of skipped runs in the previous weeks, I have been starting to doubt if I am ready to run the 20k in Frankfurt.


And when waking up this morning, stretching and loosening my legs, I still could feel some fatigue from my Friday run in my lower legs. So I ended up procrastinating my run all day long. First with a steam engine ride and then a walk around the neighboring town. And after all that, getting ready for my run still took a few hours of procrastination, long enough to know that I would be back home after sunset if I were to complete the full run.




After finally stepping out and starting my run, I chose not to start my usual route, but went immediately for a longer loop. So even if my lower legs started to complain, I would be forced to go for the longer distance. And of course, my lower legs started to complain, causing me to walk most of the inclines. Oh well, at least some extra time to take in the green scenery and the smell of the wild garlic blooming.


About an hour and some more later, I had finished the longer loop and was nearing the familiar paths of my usual running route. The sun was already setting, but as the world around me was winding down, my legs seemed to have forgotten their initial complaints. I have no idea why, but hitting the familiar ground, I found myself speeding up without my legs having any issues at all. Though they certainly appreciated a 5-minute break hiding underneath a tree while a rainy cloud was passing by, I finished my easy run stronger than I should have. 


But at the very least: I have found new confidence for my upcoming run in Frankfurt.



Location: Tübingen, Deutschland

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