The Midweek Long Run

Oh me, oh my! This is the one element of training I can't say I have done very well at. In fact, when I made my training plans the midweek long runs were pretty much non-existent. You see, I knew they are beneficial but I was being easy on myself knowing that I start my workday at 6:00 am. Doing a longish run before work made me cringe.
And then it happened. They ended up on my training plan. Not by my own accord but by my coach's. It made me cringe a nanosecond but I was determined to follow the advice I asked for. What good is it to ask for guidance and then just throw it out the window? Okay, I kinda feel like I did that during my vacation but let's not dwell on the past.
Once returning from vacation I was determined to get back on track but those 3:00 am wake-up calls were dreadful. I procrastinated, I hit snooze, I rationalized, and I ended up doing my midweek long runs on Thursdays or Fridays versus Wednesdays. Not necessarily bad but still, not perfect. But hey, no one is perfect, right? Right!
Today the alarm went off. I hit snooze. It went off again. I hit snooze and thought, I can run long tomorrow. But then it sunk in that I really didn't want to do that. I wanted to get up since I was already awake. And I did mainly because I was motivated by Toby and wanted to tell him I got up on time to do my run today thanks to him. Mission accomplished. You see, I run for Toby and he helps me get moving!
Thank goodness my alarm is set ahead of time so those two snoozes didn't take me off track too much...just a few minutes. I was out in my car by 3:30ish and on my way. I can't say I skipped joyfully to the treadmill. I slowly made my way there. I slowly got ready to run. I started running slowly and it was not fun. I am being completely honest. I felt stiff, awkward, and not happy.
Good thing I don't let those initial feelings get to the better of me since it really does take at least a mile for me to warm up. And not only was today a midweek long run, I had intervals to do. YAY! Seriously, YAY! You see, those intervals break up the monotony of running 9 miles in place. I break into them after my easy one mile warm up and then those extra miles at the end are just extra miles at the end. By the time I get to them I am far enough into my run that I won't give up.
What training run do you know will benefit you but you still dread it?
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful I got out of bed and ran!
Daily Affirmation: I have lovely bouncy, curly hair.