Street running without giraffes

Giraffes would have made this run memorable.

Today's run (street): 4.2 miles
Yesterday's run (street): 3.2 miles

Happy Memorial Day weekend. So far, my running has been anything but memorable. Yesterday's run was awful from start to finish, with a combination of tired legs, low energy, sun, heat and humidity. I plodded my way through my neighborhood and frequently reminded myself that I was getting closer to home. I hoped that I was getting the bad stuff out of the way and that today's run would be better. It was not.

I tried to stack the deck in my favor this morning by putting on my lightest gear and getting out early. I didn't feel as fatigued as I did on Friday and the cooler temps got me off to a good start. My plan was to run over to a different neighborhood that's directly south of mine. I moved along at a steady pace. Make that slow and steady. Actually, just slow. Really slow. It wasn't Friday's torturous experience, but I didn't feel good about a mediocre run following a bad one.

The one good thing about today's run was the interesting route map that was created by my Garmin. I couldn't resist getting my AI robot buddy CaptionBot to weigh in on it. I definitely would have enjoyed this run more if I ran into giraffes along the way.

Monday's weather is supposed to be stormy, so I'm looking to get out of the neighborhood on Sunday. I may head to Stillwell if I'm up to the challenge or to Bethpage where the trails aren't as technical. I really hope that I'll break out of my current performance malaise soon. I'll be stringing four runs together in four days, something I haven't done in a month. Perhaps by Monday, I'll have made some positive progress.

CaptionBot sums up my run experience

 

Today's run (street): 3.2 miles

I used to be very disciplined about my running and would usually get out before the sun came up. In recent years I've slipped from typical 6:00-ish start times to a more indulgent 8:00 AM. Later starts led to later finishes that cut deeply into my weekend mornings. I've been thinking it would be good to return to earlier runs, starting today.

Although earlier starts were already part of the plan, I needed to be back in time for an 8:00 AM video call today. Having my running done by 7:00 AM gave me more time to get things done this morning. And I can always use extra time.

Being out at 6:30 AM was a different Friday experience for me. No recycling trucks or parents speeding down the road on their way to dropping their kids off at school. It was a chilly 38° and the glare from the rising sun was blinding, but I enjoyed being out there. I ran okay and covered my usual 5K Friday route. When I got home I took a selfie on my driveway to memorialize my multi-colored outfit.

After I downloaded the picture I stumbled upon Microsoft's CaptionBot site where you can upload a picture and it captions it for you using artificial intelligence. The results are above. For the record I wasn't exactly feeling "grinning emoji."