Call Me Crazy

So, I was hoping that posting on my must-do training would hold me accountable. I even thought about Jank's comment about running 24-26 miles. I can do this I thought.

However, the elements were not in my favor yesterday. I woke up to torrential downpours. "I'll put running off until tomorrow," I said. But by mid morning,after my fifth cup of coffee and second time flipping through CookingLight, I was antsy. I needed to get out. Except the rain was coming down sooo hard.

I remembered that my friend (MER) once told me about her friend who trained for a marathon entirely on a treadmill. While atthe time this sounded completely insane, it was my only option yesterday.

So I headed down to our fitness center. Yes,I live on top of my fitness center. I walk on its ceiling, it isdirectly below me. You can imagine that this is both good and bad. Good: at 5:30 in the morning, when I don't get home from work until 8:30 at night, for days like yesterday. Bad: when all you want to dois curl-up on the couch and eat chocolate, but feel guilty about not going to the gym which is soooo close.

At 1pm I started my run on the treadmill. It was the longest 11 miles of my life. My i-pod for some reason kept playing the same songs over and over. I tried to watch football while running, but even the game was not keeping me motivated. It was hot, stuffy, and did I mention incredibly boring?

That was it, I had it with the treadmill. I went back upstairs to my apartment,ate half of a powerbar and headed outside. My husband looked at me like I was crazy. I thought, "I have run in the rain before, it can't be that bad."

There were three things that I realized as I made my way down the National Mall for a 7 mile loop. 1. The rain I had run in before was a gentle spring shower, not torrential downpours. 2. The wind(which I obviously had not noticed from my apartment window) was powerful. 3. When it rains for two days straight, grass becomes muddy, sidewalks become washed out, and puddles become lakes.

Therefore,not only was I dodging tourists who were staring at me, I was dodging sinking mud, huge puddles of rain, and the spray from cars.

I also came to the realization around the fourth miles that maybe I WAS crazy. People in DC do things to the extreme. They work hard and play hard. And they are exercise fanatics. On any given night you can find hundreds of people running on the National Mall. How many people did I pass running yesterday? 3. And I think one of them was just running from one Smithsonian to the other to dodge the rain, not for exercise.

Needless to point out I didn't get in my 24 miles, I didn't really even get in 20. I think I ran about 18-19 miles. It was frustrating. I missed my running partner Anna. I missed the great feeling you get at the end of a long run. Instead I just wanted a warm shower and big mug of hot chocolate.