What's in a run?

Pain:
Last Saturday was a 10k, which was preceded by 4 days of intestinal misfortune. It was painful and I went much slower than I wanted to but I finished with mild stomach cramps and only vomiting up stomach acid once at mile 5.

Joy:
Monday was a recovery run. Peaceful, back to normal intestinal function and the correct training pace.

Disappointment:
Tuesday was a track workout. Last time I did this was 2 weeks ago and it went well then. That work out was 10 x 800s. I only did 4.5 of them since I had already run that day. I was surprised at how easy it was. Then this past Tuesday I got a dose of reality. The workout was 5 x 1 mile. I did the first mile at just under 8 min. pace. Uh then I fell apart. It's not that every mile got slower, it was every LAP got slower. I had to change the workout to a mix of 800s and 1200s until I got 5 miles in. It was horrible. Was I just lucky 2 weeks ago, am I just that bad with my endurance/speed or are track workouts really that hard?

Fun:
Today I ran for the sake of running. No watch to keep up with my splits. No "must push it" attitude. I slowed when I felt the need, I picked it up and dug deep when I got the motivation. I didn't think of anything other than the cold humid air combined with the drizzling rain hitting my face. Sure I probably didn't go very fast, but I had fun for the first run in a long time. And I dislike running the most of the 3 disciplines so that's saying a lot.

Accomplishment:
Maybe this Saturday's long run will bring good accomplishments for my time and distance again. If it weren't for needing to make sure I get a set amount of time in I would consider not wearing my watch then either. It was nice not being tied to that evil contraption.