A rainy run

Congrats to the Houston Fit NYC Marathon group, who completed their 21-miler on Saturday! With school on Saturday, I missed the Houston Fit fall group's final run for the Chicago Marathoners. It was perfect weather for a run, so it was a bit of a bummer to have to miss it. Also, congrats to those who ran the 104TX run in the Woodlands on Saturday and to those who stuck it out in the rain for the USA 10-miler on Sunday!

I woke up on Sunday with the intention of getting out to the park for an easy 8 miles. Hooray for tapering! As I was laying in bed, I didn't hear rain and didn't even think about the day's forecast of 100% rain. Of course, I instantly remembered when I walked out the front door, because the ground was wet. I didn't get hit with any rain at all on the drive to the park, but the minute I got out of my car and walked over to the path to stretch, a steady mist began to fall. No problem! I really don't mind running in the rain, as long as it's not 40 degrees. (Brings back memories of last year's 21-miler!) Actually, the rain felt great! So, I continued to stretch and during that time I saw 3 cars pull up, sit there for a minute and leave...weenies! :-)

As I started my 1st loop, the rain began to fall a little harder and at one point I was really wishing I had brought a baseball cap or visor. Water was falling into my eyes, so I was squinting and could hardly open them enough to see in front of me. Still, I was totally enjoying this...it was invigorating! So much so that I ran my 1st mile in 10:23! I decided to slow down the pace a bit for the next mile and try to hold steady at about 11:30 for the remainder of the run. By the time I made it to the 1 1/2 mile marker, the rain had stopped. Close to the 2 mile mark and about the time I was thinking to myself that the rain made it much cooler, it started up again. It pretty much rained for the remainder of the run...not bad, just a steady drizzle. As I finished my 2nd loop, the rain was slowing and stopped. I actually began to dry off a bit. I continued to run past my car and past the warm-up area. About that time, it started raining again - harder. That's when I decided that I was done for the day. I turned around and headed for my mommy mobile...gee, now who's the weenie? So, I wussed out at a little over 6 miles.

As I was running, I thought about the training season. I was giddy knowing that at that exact time in 1 week, I would be running the Chicago Marathon. It's funny how priorities change while training over the course of 8 months. In February, after the Austin Marathon, I was thinking how great it would be to PR in Chicago. That became my Priority #1. Then, in the early Spring, I got busy studying for the PHR and GMAT, but kept running - doing well on the exams became Priority #1. After the exams, I focused more on running again - once more it was Priority #1. Next, I had super-duper shin splits, then knee pain & opted to not do the hill and speedwork - just keeping my legs healthy became Priority #1. Then, the Houston heat hit and my Houston Fit fall group long runs were incredibly slow...Priority #1 shifted to just not having heatstroke! Then, school started...my Priority #1 shifted to studying. So, that's where I am. From PR to just finishing strong. I guess that's okay...life happens and we just have to roll with the punches. Would I like to PR? Of course! Who wouldn't? Did I train for a PR finish? No, not really. So, as I get ready for my trip to Chi-town, I am just hoping for great weather and a good run. I'm praying that I wake-up feeling strong, my allergies that have been giving me hell for the last week go away and I do my absolute best...whatever that ends up being!

I AM READY!