Me? Happy during a run? What gives???

Today was one of the best run days I've had in a long time... if I do say so myself. No, the pace wasn't particularly great, but there were so many other things the run today had going for it:

1. I got to run with my favorite runner partner, my sis-in-law, Heather. We always chat through much of our run and it makes it go much faster.
2. It was a gorgeous day outside. Even though the temps weren't super high when we left the house it was warm enough in the sun to feel like my long sleeved tech shirt was too much
3. After Sunday's misery, I was sure I had hydrated before today's run
4. We felt pretty good throughout the entire run... even to the point where we decided to add the 2nd of 2 killer hills in my neighborhood to our run today... last week we were both feeling crummy enough that hill #2 was out of the question.
5. We stopped mid run to say hi to the husband of my Godmother, who was out weeding his strawberries in his front yard this morning. Here's hoping that those strawberries yield good fruit this summer!
6. I think my new running shoes might actually be ready for the half marathon on Sunday... yes, ladies & gents, that is in FOUR days, I can't believe it's coming up so fast!

I'm not sure why both of our legs stiffened up so much after our run... both of us have some hill experience so even those these are brutally steep hills, they are pretty short and shouldn't have impacted us too much... but I was definitely feeling like I was moving a little slow most of the afternoon... at least until I popped an Aleve to make the pain go away! Still, despite that, I continue to maintain that today was a truly enjoyable run (at least as far as a run can actually be enjoyable... I maintain it's still not the same kind of fun as a trip to Cold Stone Creamery or the like)... and I'm hoping there will be many more of those in the near future!

Today's Run
6.81 Miles
82 Minutes
5.0 mph