This is probably the worst time to be in a funk, right?

The first week of September has passed.  I've been in a funk over the last week or so... My last training run was on Tuesday, the 3rd and it didn't go well.  It was probably the worst run I've had in a long time... and it wasn't due to pace, 4 miles at a 11:07 pace.  This is a pretty good pace for me.  I just really felt like crap that day and it hasn't seemed to let up.  Mentally, it was a struggle and has been a struggle to get out of the door and physically, it's been a struggle to feel as good as I've felt before.  I've never felt like this before in my training and I'm trying to get answers on why this has come over me now... I've got my first half marathon in less than a week!!  I should be feeling confident, excited, pumped, right?

What's even more crazy is, football season has started and I'm happy about that!!  RGIII is starting for my Redskins on Monday Night Football, which is awesome!!  My favorite season of the year, Autumn, will be here soon and I'm happy about that!!  My 30th birthday is coming soon, which should be fun!!  I feel fine and am happy in all the other phases of my life, but my recent running has been, well, blah.  Weird.

I'm scheduled for an 8 miler today.  I'm going to try to push through it.  Right now, it's 7:06am and I'm currently waiting on my wife to get home from work, so I can try to get this run completed and have that out of the way.  It will loom over my head if I don't get it done.

I think what I'm going to do after my half marathon on Saturday is make the next week's training very light and just try to refocus.  The next race on schedule after my half marathon is my first full marathon... The ING Miami Marathon.  So, I will prepare for that and make that the only goal over the winter.

I'm hoping that we'll have a mild winter, here in the DC Metro area.  But, that may not happen, as the last couple of winters haven't been as bad.  So, we'll see how long runs of 20 and 22 miles in the winter will go.

But, let me know... have you ever had periods like this in your training?  I'm still a new runner and there are things that I am still learning.  So, suggestions and thoughts on how to deal with it would be greatly appreciated!!