Running in the Cold Rain Feels Good

Even though I ran in the rain, it felt good becasue I'm starting to see some progress.

I set my alarm for 6AM this morning. I awoke to thunder and lighting outside my window. I decided to go back to sleep and ignore the alarm, since I correctly assessed the situation to be rather dangerous because the thunder sounded rather near by.

A woke up again at 9AM. This time I started to waffle, should I do the Ballet Boot Camp and count it as a cross training day or just brave the elements? Finally, around 10AM I made up my mind. Running it was! It took me about 10 minutes to get my head out of a funk and get dressed for the run. By the time I got out the door it was still raining, but the thunder and lightning had moved on.

I lost track of how many laps I did and tried not to berate myself for cheating. Yea, cheating! I decided to run the inside lane on the track as opposed to the outer lane that I usually run. After about a lap and a half, I determined that I wasn’t cheating and that psychologically it felt better to just run on the inside lane.

Unfortunately, I lost count of how many times I actually ran around the track, but that’s OK. I started around 10:20 AM and got back around 11:00 AM. 40 minutes. I can live with that.

I ran to the Indie Christian C25K, week 3 and I loved it. Running in the cool air (I believe the weather channel said it was 73 F) felt great. As per usual, I ran the last 5 minutes of my cool down, I believe I made it about 1 and a half times around the track during the five minutes plus the 3 minute run. Hmmm…that’s 8 minutes of running without a walk break. Did I do that? Wow, running in the cooler air really does make a difference! Also, it started raining harder during my last lap. The rain was dripping off my hat whenever I looked down to avoid the puddles and fiddle with my mp3 player.

The hill on the way back, turned into a shallow river on the trek back home, at least the left side was. The right side seemed less effected by the downpour. Fortunately, the small army of construction workers were no where to be seen, so it was a gawk free run.

By the time I got to my door, I wasn’t huffing and puffing up the three flights of steps like I normally do. It felt great!

Regarding form – I still need to work on my left leg, but it did cooperate with my right foot much better today. I have hope that my left foot will consistently land on the ball of the foot. It takes a lot of mental effort to focus on correct form.

Running straddling the line between the lanes has been really a blessing. It keeps me focused on my arm movements. I have a tendency to swing my arms past the mid-line. By being aware of my arm placement,  I can keep nagging neck and shoulder pain from interfering with my training schedule.