Procrastination and Skittles

        Saturday morning. Time for a long run. Maybe after some coffee and breakfast. Maybe later in the morning. Maybe this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow.
      And this is how it usually goes for me. I LOVE my long runs but hate to actually get out the door and on the road. Why? I have no idea. It usually takes 1-2 hours after I declare to my family that I will be going for a run before I actually lace ’em up and go. Today was no different. Finally at about noon, I sent a friend of mine a text. He is running a half in Little Rock this March, so I knew there was some type of long run in his plan this weekend. He called just a few minutes later and we agreed to run 8 miles together. I was hoping the he would run 10 but I’ll take what I can get.
       I decided to run 10 miles before meeting him. Leaving my house I started at a slow pace but picked it up as I went. Keeping in mind that I would be running 18 miles total I tried to keep it slower and ended up with a 7:45 pace as my house came back into view. The timing was perfect. There he was, ready to roll. One problem. It was now 3 pm and I hadn’t ate since about 7:30 a.m. One small bowl of oatmeal and a piece of toast were not cutting it at this point. Running into my house, I grabbed a quick drink and a handful of Skittles. I had my doubts about this choice but I was in a hurry. Mouth full of candy and water bottle filled I was ready. We took off on a very hilly route and had a great run. 8 miles at a 9:20 pace.
      I ended up with my 18 and learned a new trick. A handfull of Skittles worked as good as any energy gels I have tried and tasted a whole lot better. The procrastination thing……..I’ll worry about that later.