I am a day late for this, yesterday I decided to not run despite not running on Sunday. I had planned a long run up to the volcano for both days, but neither happened. My Sunday excuse was a need for a rest day after four in a row (though I felt like physically I could have done it), my Monday excuse was musical. I got a call this weekend to come into the studio and do some recording for a reggae album! I was really excited and was supposed to get a CD of the music from a fellow musician at a big band show we were both subbing for. Well he forgot it, so I had no idea of what I would be playing. So I figured I had better not run on Monday in order to keep as sharp as possible. When 2:30 arrived I headed to the studio and went for it. The musician was a bit perturbed that I hadn’t heard the music, but we made the best of it. I listened to the first song and we went over ALL the parts I needed the play the bari sax for, there where a number of them. I wasn’t that nervous, but I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to do what was needed. But once the recording actually started it all came together rather well. We got the two songs done in the three studio hours we had and it sounded pretty good. I think the artist was happy with what we came up with. It was an interesting mental challenge and I am really glad I didn’t chicken out and not do it. I did miss my run opportunities but I think I made the best of my time away from the roads.

So this week is not an opportunistic one for running. I have rehearsals Tues-Thurs and a show out of town on Saturday that will keep me away from my shoes until Sunday night. So since I missed out on my opportunities to run this week music free, I decided to risk it today and get a five-miler in (which has become my go-to run as of late). We had really strong winds today and I was super-tempted to not do it. But once I got out there the winds weren’t too bad (at least one way wasn’t, unfortunately it was on the way home.) It was a tad chilly, but I was layered up and I didn’t feel too much. I considered going for longer but good sense got the best of me and I kept it to five.

I realized that I could actually make it another four in a row week if I really wanted to. So that is the goal now. I am not going to attempt to meet my miles total from last week (21.5 mi) but I think I can pull off four in a row again if I do some short ones before my Wednes and Thurs rehearsals. The bummer is every one this week is a big one. I have a show next week with the big band and the out-of-town show this weekend with teh soul band (we haven’t rehearsed in a couple months so it could be rough). Still I am trying to toughen up a bit and not use music as an excuse to not run. Or at the very least to at least try shorter runs. We’ll see…