Tempted to get bored with it...

I've been running the same trail for the last year.  This trail gives the option to go two miles or cut through for a one mile.  I know every curve, every crack in the trail, and I have become very familiar with a few odd shape trees which I regard as milestones in my trek.  In fact, these trees now hold an emotional response when I see them because each one marks what I've accomplished and the upcoming finish to mile markers.  I often think to myself, "if I can just get to that tree around the corner..." and when I do there is a mental release that invigorates me again.  Strange stuff, this mental mojo of a runner.

I am at the point now, I need to break my "glass ceiling" and the thought of going round one more time almost makes me nauseous.  I have even opted to not make two two-mile loops but one two-mile and two one-miles.  The strategy is that I have mentally associated the short trail as my finish because it comes out at the end joining the two mile path.  So when I am fatigued I mentally try to trick myself into the "feeling" of accomplishment taking shorter loops.   Again I say, strange stuff, this mind over matter it takes to dictate my body into going the distance.

So today I tried to introduce something different and started my run a distance from the trail itself to add on a mile outside my usual path.  It's amazing the freedom I felt and the change of atmosphere was just what I needed.  I actually looked forward to the run back to my car that was a different path.   This taught me that keeping it fresh is something I need to be creative in as I move forward in adding distance.  

On another note, I ran across an article on keeping weight off after forty or as I call it "fighting flab after forty" OR "FFAF!"   This may be helpful to someone and God knows after forty we need ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET!

http://www.thatsfit.com/2010/12/17/stay-slim-through-perimenopause/