Not every run is a good run

On Saturday morning I woke up to a rainy, grey day.   Snowshoeing was out of the question, so I laced up my runners and hit the trails.  I ran some mountain biking trails because it’s low season for the bikers, so safe enough to share, and then doubled back to my favourite loop around Rice Lake.

The run sucked. The trail was muddy and squelchy. The biking trail was sometimes too technical for me to keep running and I had to walk sections of it. I expected to come out on another trail, but the trail just looped back to where I started.  My dormant gazelle remained dormant and I plodded along, every step a challenge.

For a moment I thought, why am I even bothering, I should just chuck it and head home. But I didn’t. I figured a lame run is better than no run. A lame run is better than being on the couch. A lame run is still some activity. A lame run is still burning calories.

No it wasn’t my best day out, but I was out there working hard on an off day. I’m telling myself that next week, I’ll be a better runner because of pushing through the tough day. Right? Right?