Long Run Sunday 

  
First off, I reallllly didn’t want to go run today.  It was blustery from the get go, but when I looked at the hour-by-hour weather forecast online I had to head out straightaway in the morning or commit to running nine miles on the treadmill.  That’s a big pile of NOPE.  You can bet your sweet bippy that I hauled up out of bed once I realized that.  While I feel ready for the 15K next week, I wanted one more nine miler under my belt before I felt really ready, so I felt like it was important to honor myself in that regard.  I’ve recently learned the power of training and really want that to be a part of my focus this year as I prepare for my races.

I headed outside during the brief moment when the sun poked her shine through the clouds.  Along with that gorgeous sun and threat of rain was wind.  Ohmygoodness.  The wind.  I’m ok with some heat now, a little rain doesn’t melt me, but the wind drives the cold into all the cracks and crevices.  Not only that, but do you see my hair?  That was the crazy wind, keeping it in my eyes the whole time!  Talk about a derpy run pic of the day…  Anyhow…  My initial plan was to do three ‘extra large’ loops.  (‘Extra large’ is the distance from my house to the most easterly, main-ish road.). But each of those loops has a long stretch that behaves like a wind tunnel, so I made myself a deal: I only had to go around once, but that one time around had to include as many side roads and culdesacs as possible!  So I did it!  I ran in my neighborhood, wracked up some decent mileage, and still saw houses I hadn’t seen before!  What finally drove me home was that the freezing-cold, sideways rain started up again.  I tried to stick with the run, but my legs started to feel numb and I was getting stupid cold and fairly hungry.  Time to head home…  But I have no shame.  Today felt epic.  Now, this week, I taper and rest until Sunday when I have the official 15K with my team from Run the Year!!

  
*That said, I will stick with my Tuesday/Friday Zumba schedule, too.  I’ve found that Zumba does all kinds of amazing stuff, but it never impacts my ability to run.  I get sore in lots of places, but it just seems to make me into a better runner.  Last week the only thing I did was Zumba and I ran two miles on two different days in my kitchen (yes, I do switch directions often and even figure eight around the table and through the rumpus room for those interested).  It was such a healing week and a good reminder to take it easy every once in a while.  😉