We’re fast approaching marathon training so I’m hyper aware of how I’m feeling on my runs and trying to think about everything in a way that will set me up for success throughout the summer.

I’m also going to be writing more and more about my runs as the next few months unfold.

This post combines both of those things.

Last Saturday morning I went out for a run early in the morning, before the craziness of the graduation party day happened.

I realized over the past few years - mostly because of my running - that I carry my stress in my legs.

There was some stress graduation weekend - I worked Friday, for most of the work day we didn’t know if graduation would be Friday evening or not, then when it was postponed attention shifted to the party on Saturday and setting up and whether the weather would cooperate.

I snuck in the run Saturday after not sleeping a ton Friday night and my legs just felt tired. I now recognize that feeling as a stress feeling…but sometimes I don’t realize it until after the fact.

I stopped and walked a bunch and I was OK with it - with everything happening over the weekend I wasn’t sure I’d even get to do the run, so getting six miles in my legs - even with walking that much - was a good thing.

But I was worried, because the 10K is fast approaching. (Oh, I should add once again on Friday night we ordered from Raising Cane’s, so that’s two times in a row I’ve had Cane’s the night before a run and two times the run has stunk. So no more Raising Cane’s………...only if I know I’m running the next morning. I kind of love the chicken.)

But anyway, if I’m having trouble with six miles, that’s not good for the 10K, because that requires me to run six miles, obviously.

So on Monday morning, feeling a little lighter because we were through graduation weekend, I ran again, thinking maybe I’d get six miles in. There were a couple of parts to this run - one was to make sure I felt better than I did on Saturday - I did. It felt great. - but also to check the timing of my running in the morning. I didn’t wake up any earlier than normal, but I had some flexibility with school drop offs and putting together lunches so I wanted to see how my morning went with a longer run.

That also went well - I got 6.5 miles in and was back in time to feed the dog. It was a good benchmark timing run - I would have been cutting it close if I had to go in to work that day, but if I was running anything less than 6 miles it would have been very good timing.

And if I’m running 6-to-8 miles, I don’t have to get up that much earlier, so that’s all good to know.

The only issue with Monday’s run is Strava reported my miles as all less than 11 minutes…but my watch ticked them off all at 11:05-to-11:10. So that’s weird - I obviously trust the watch more because I watch the miles tick off as I go…but I’m not sure why Strava is misreporting. I need to notice that more and whether it’s doing that with more of my runs.

Monday’s run, though, was encouraging - definitely reminded me I’ll be in good shape for the 10K. That’s coming up next week.

Before then, I have another 5K on Saturday. And then after the 10K…it’s time for marathon training.