13 Days and Counting.....

My streak is now 13 days, not exactly how I planned but still it's a solid streak.  Yesterday I wanted to get in a solid 7 miles for the day but I went and put Cade down to bed and fell asleep until 10:00 pm.  If Beth hadn't woken me up I most likely would have slept right on through the night.  I'm not too upset, I really wasn't feeling very well and this gave me a chance to get a little rest and I had already logged 2+ miles for the day so all wasn't lost.

Today I had my 27 mile cycling route planned but what I didn't count on is having rain the first thing this morning.  With the temps down in the low 50's and rain I decided to forego the ride and I went for a run instead.  The plan was to sneek in a 4 miler that I didn't get to do the night before so I was eyeballing the cloud cover as I worked from my desk.  Around 10:00 am I decided that the weather wasn't going to break and I could venture out in the drizzle.  Now being from So Cal I don't have any wet weather gear so I pulled on my regular clothes and added my sleeves and by the time I was finished I was drenched. 

The run itself was interesting, like I mentioned, I was going 4 miles and I wanted to finish in just under 40 mins, what I thought was 4 miles turned out to be 4.25 miles and I completed it in 41:15  (9:43 pace - right where I wanted to be).  I struggled throughout the whole course, first I didn't feel loose then my left arch was cramping and finally my knees were sore.  I kept looking at my watch (which was completely drenched) where I thought the mile markers were and I kept getting upset since I was dropping further and further behind my planned pace.  When I finished, and as soon as I stopped my watch something funnny happened, all of the sudden I felt good.  Now normally I go about a mile (or under) as a cool down, but today after walking about 400 meters I started up again and did another 2.3 miles in the rain.  I tell you, I've been running for over 30 years on and off and I've never felt this way before, these additional 2+ miles I was grinning ear-to-ear and I'm sure the people passing me going the other direction must have thought I was out of my mind, but I was having so much fun rain and all.  My pace over the last two miles was 10:22 per mile that included walking the 400 meters.

Today I feel much better, my headache is managable once again, and my upset stomach is gone so I must have just been having a bad day yesterday.  As I write this it's now sunny, the clouds broke about an hour ago and I can't believe that it was raining at all this morning.  Still I wouldn't do it anyother way.  Today's run I will remember for some time to come.

Last night I did finally pay for my 10k race in March so I'm committed.  (Or a least have a $30 investment on the line)  I'm going to refrain on setting a new time goal until I run my 'mock' race on the 23rd of this month.

One final note, I hit 96.9 miles for the month already and I'm on pace to do 130 miles for the month, and this is without the planned cycling ride I had planned for this morning.  130 miles will be a record for me so I'll have to watch how I'm feeling since I don't want to get hurt.



Keep Steppin'
bob