Friday Quote Day

The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41, KJV

So. About yesterday's run. Every time I ventured out the door the rain poured down harder, the thunder boomed louder and I felt more and more like a weak-willed slacker. I'm perfectly willing to run in the rain, but I'm no masochist. I should amend my statement to read: I'm perfectly willing to run in a light rain, but not in a thunderstorm.

I stayed dressed and ready to go, with the intention of leaving at the first hint of a let-up. The rain finally slacked off about 10:30.

I wore long grey pants, the long-sleeved black shirt I wore last Sunday [the one that was too hot], thick socks and the only pair of sneakers I've worn this whole training time. And a purple hat. I felt like a gangsta in the redneck 'hood.

Again, the long-sleeved shirt was too warm. I was okay with long pants, though; I don't care to feel water splashing up on the back of my legs. And I tossed the hat slightly after the first mile. The first 5.5 were fine – a light mist, sometimes a drizzle, but I hardly even noticed. Then it started pouring again.

No choice but to keep moving, and I think I moved faster so I could get in my nice dry car sooner. I need to learn to translate that feeling to "if I moved faster I could get home sooner." Somehow moving faster when it's hot and dry just isn't as manageable.

I missed my target time by about four minutes; I wasn't too disappointed with that. My left ankle is very stiff this morning, and my left shin hurts, as well. That phantom pain again [I hope].

The interesting thing about running in the rain is how exhilarated I felt all afternoon. I was full of energy, felt sharp and light and generally was in an amazingly good mood.

Thank you Jeannie and Mary, for correcting me on losing an hour at the end of DST. Not that I'll use that extra hour for sleeping or anything. Heh.

As of the end of yesterday's run, I've logged more miles this month than any month since I started keeping track [in July]. In fact, at this point I've run .4 of a mile more in October than in September, in 14 minutes less time. I have 20 miles to go this month, if I do my last tempo run on Wednesday the 31st. Since I'm driving all day Thursday and Friday, I think that's my only option.

Four more runs, two easy, one long and one tempo.

I won't be posting again until maybe next Friday morning. If not then, it'll be the day after the race. I'm off for the annual Halloween visit with my daughter and her family. An extra treat this year is that my daughter and I are going to meet Crazy Aunt Purl! The trick will be getting some good pictures.