Hitting the Running Wall

I've been running 5 times a week on average. I go anywhere between 1.5 and 7 miles (although usually, I like the 2- or 4-mile runs). But I get bored of hearing myself think even with the music stylings of the Beastie Boys, Nelly, Chuck Berry, Madonna, etc., in my ear. So I try to make my runs more challenging by changing paths, terrain and by trying not to be a wuss about weather (mostly because I'm more of a wuss about the treadmill than getting wet or cold). Don't judge. I fell off a treadmill at 250 lbs in front of a whole gym of skinny Northern Virginia people in 1999. It took me 3 months to get up enough courage to go back to my gym. It took just as long for the ultra nasty leg and hip bruises to go away...

Today, I ran around the lake behind our house for the first time in a long time. Really I haven't been back there since I transitioned from walking to running. I made a lap and a half around and started walking. My feet were wet from the low parts of the trail where water collects and where running into the grass just finds more grass-covered puddles. It was foggy to the point that I couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of me. So, I took a turn and decided to run up and down the big giant sledding hill. I did it twice. Then I returned to the path.

I was still bored. So bored that I decided I had to pee, and I went home at the 20-minute mark when I was supposed to be out there for 45 minutes.

Is it the blah weather? Is it that I only got 5 hours of sleep? Is it that I am nervous about meeting my goal to run the whole 5k with no walk breaks on Sunday? Is it the fact that I have a midterm at 12:30 p.m. that I feel kind of whatever (yet, still worried) about? Is it because this is the last week of MacTroll's rigorous travel schedule and I'm fatigued? Is it the 'crazy be everywhere all at once' schedule this week? Whatever it is, I hope it goes away for my run after lunch tomorrow.