Was it the Diet Coke, carbs or calories?

Yesterday's run almost didn't happen. I was all fired up after Saturday's great long, slow run. I had a job interview in the early afternoon (have decided I'm not interested). On the drive home, I realized I hadn't had time to eat lunch, so no food for 6+ hours. I'm not one who can run on an empty stomach. So I came home, made a tuna melt and watched a movie with the hubs.

About 4:45 I thought a 10-minute nap might be nice. And it was -- for 45 minutes. Still, I dressed, did my Chi-looseners and headed out the door. After a quarter-mile walk during which I wasn't feelin it, I started to jog. About 8 steps later, I knew it wasn't in the cards. I'd lost my window so to speak. I walked it home and thought I was done for the night.

I needed a Diet Coke in the worst way. So I made dinner (pasta salad with chicken, grapes, nuts and oranges) and needed to wait for the pasta to cool. So I headed to McDonald's for a large Diet (just love those fountain Cokes). Came home, ate dinner and about 10 Ritz crackers and settled in for the night. But a funny thing happened, I started to feel better within the hour. Did I just need some caffeine? Some carbs? Calories?

About 7:45 I decided to head out and see if I could run a bit. Even a mile would be OK. I reminded myself to take the walk breaks every half mile if I needed them. So off I went feeling stronger than I expected. All of the sudden I was thinking maybe I'll stop after a three-quarters a mile. Maybe I'll stop after 1 mile. Hey, maybe 1.5 miles. Wow, I feel good, I think I can go the 2 miles I had planned to run. About 1.5 miles into the run I started to have another conversation with myself -- like the angel and the devil on each shoulder.

"Oh, I think we can do 3 miles."

"We are NOT running any further than 2 miles. You want to build back up slowly. You haven't taken any walk breaks like you're supposed to to allow your heart rate to settle."

"You're right. But another mile is no big deal."

"Stop, it we are not running any more than 2 miles."

And on and on it went until I stopped for a drink after 2 miles. By that time, my two buddies had reached a compromise -- another half mile but it as a cool down. And before the first quarter-mile was finished, the two were at it again. I ended up with 3 miles and felt great the entire time.

Go figure.