Run: 3 miles at 6.3 miles per hour

Distance: 3.0 miles

Time: 28:43

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy: ★ ★ ★ .5

Mind: ★ ★★ .5

Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★

Soundtrack: Pandora, The Crystal Method Radio

What comes first, the increased feeling of fitness to push yourself, or the increased feeling of fitness once you've pushed yourself? That was a little of what I was wondering in the locker-room this morning after today's run.

OK, for starters, increasing my pace by :30 seconds per mile isn't so amazing, but I have just been in this running funk. It's a combo of strep throat / ankle sprain following the half marathon, but also the cold weather and no real race to look forward to....

Except, that I do have a conference in under four weeks, we do have a little fund raiser 5K, and I'm starting to feel that race coming on. So this morning I'm back at the treadmill after losing last week to black ice and laziness, and here we go. I'm gonna turn this thing up one or two clicks. Well, it goes up three, and the start is pretty good. So I just keep doing it, and three miles later we are done.

Not such an accomplishment, until I'm changing the running shoes to head back home. And... well, I feel just a little better about myself. At litter fast, a little more fit. I'm pretty pumped to get back on this thing in a day or two. Maybe I'll stick to this faster pace, maybe I'll increase it even further.

So I'm not sure if I'm feeling this way BECAUSE I increased my pace this morning, or maybe I increased my pace BECAUSE I was feeling this way heading to the gym. Or maybe I'm feeling this race deadline, or maybe it's just time to get back at it. Either which way, I'm pretty excited to have that little treadmill run behind me, and I'm looking forward to another one this week.