Runnin' in the Rain

I've read article about how some days you'll do runs and it feels so good, like you could run forever. And then other days are so off, that you wonder why you do this to yourself.

I have experience both of these instances within three days of each other.

Saturday was a group training session with Team Challenge. I seem to keep missing the big group days. All the times I have been able to make the group sessions, they have been attended by about 5 people. I have even been the only participant sometimes with just mentors and coaches! Oh well, people have busy schedules too, just like me.

So anyway. It was a perfect, cool, cloudy morning to go for another 6 miles. VASTLY different from The Philly10k conditions just a week before. We break off into our different levels and mileage groups and start our runs. This is also the first time I encountered what was ominously called "The Hill" in Valley Forge. But with the perfect weather conditions, it felt great. Not The Hill, attempting to run up The Hill totally sucked. But the rest of the run was great. Until....

It started raining.

I started with just a few drops here and there, what I would call "spitting." Then once we tackled The Hill, it started misting a little. We turned around at our mile 3 marker, and as we were heading back towards the The Hill to run down it... It started pouring. Dripping into my eyes and mouth; I could feel it tickling my scalp and it made its way into my braid. When I could feel my socks starting to get wet, that's when I stated questioning how I was going to finish out this run.

Luckily, with Team Challenge, they plan water stops that one of the coaches mans, it's also right at a bathroom too :-); always gotta think about bathroom breaks! So we stop at the water stop, use the bathroom and the decide that the final 1.5 miles is just not worth it in this pouring rain. We hop in his car and head back, shivering from being cold and wet.

My sister also ran her first 10k, right about the same time I was running with Team Challenge, only 250 miles apart. We chatted about our runs afterwards, and she had the kind of morning I expected to have, before the heavens opened up and unleashed cold, liquid fury on us. She did a great job, finishing in 1 hour and 5 minutes, much faster than my 1 hour 32 minutes!

Then, yesterday (Monday), I was due to run 3 miles, and could only finish 2.25 because I was under a time constraint. I was sort of thankful I was, because I was just not feeling it. Couldn't get a great rhythm down at all, felt like I had to pee the entire time. I kept scoping out places along the trail I might be able to duck into to take a quick piss, but I ended up not needing to, despite bladder pain.

Total training: 66 miles
Fundraising: 88% to my goal