Inside. Again.

Just as I suspected, the rain this morning drove me inside for my long run. Say it with me: BOO! I had a great route planned (that I will use with necessary add-on for next week's 11) and I'm quite anxious to get back outside for the longer runs!!

The decision to stay in was not an easy one as it wasn't yet raining when I woke up. It was dark ... oh, wait, that's because the whole spring-forward on the clock thing also meant it was going to be darker anyway. I totally had that backward and thought it would be lighter ... tool. Anyway, I could still see rain clouds looming, and while weather web sites weren't consistent, they all showed no less than a 50% chance of rain (up to 100%; really ?) during the time I would be out. First of all, who wants to run in the rain on purpose, and, second, even though it was 54 degrees, that's a cold 54 when you're wet.

Aaron helped me wrestle with the what-to-do decision for about 15 minutes (because, who wouldn't want to have that debate at 6:30 in the morning), until I made the final call: Another inside run.

While Aaron set up the treadmill for me, because he's that awesome, I did one more check outside:

There are the tell-tale drops ... it started raining at the same
time I would have otherwise been heading out! It rained the
whole time I was on the treadmill and for a few hours after.
You gotta love making the right call!

I went back inside all kinds of happy for knowing it was the right call for me. On my way to the treadmill, I passed by two happy campers with no intention of doing much of anything, therefore, no decision-making required for them!

They're all cozy! Even Elly had already
noted the rain and didn't get off the couch
anticipating a run when she saw me. Pretty
cool how her flashed doggie-eye matches
her bandana, by the way.

The one thing I did decide yesterday in case today's run was sponsored by the treadmill was that I would run based on time and not by distance. It took most of last week for me to no longer feel the 9 miles on the treadmill because, as mentioned, it took me as long to do that as it takes to do 12 outside. The lack of variance in pace and the fact that all muscles hold steady on the treadmill (versus flexing and working in different ways to accommodate hills big and small) really takes a toll. So, I used my slowest per-mile Half Marathon pace and ran 10 for that amount of time. It wasn't fun, but it worked.

What was fun was PC#2 hearing me swig down the last drops in my water bottle only to reappear moments later with a fresh one. How fab is that? AND, PC#3 would wander past and let me know it was still raining which was more motivating that he was even aware. Wahoo! So, from having the treadmill moved for me to getting water service to receiving a pretty regular weather report, I felt mighty spoiled! Everyone should have such a stellar Pit Crew!

I used my time to watch the remaining episodes of Deception that I started back when these long runs supported my television viewing. I cannot believe I'm all caught up on that show now. Fortunately, it's very entertaining and helped many miles of time pass!

Once finished, we did exactly what I planned from yesterday: It was bagel time!

Not just bagel time ... an Everything bagel time!

While having our breakfast, I got a big case of the post-run chills. I mean to tell you I was suddenly freezing! Between the run, still having wet hair and it being chilly and wet outside, I was a heap of imbalance!

I was blowing warm air into the fabric
because it was going through the hood and
warming me up when PC#2 started
laughing because she said I looked like
a cat. I now see what she's saying!

The week ahead looks much more promising all the way through the weekend for the roads and I to get reacquianted! In the meantime, I appreciate Aaron's cheer of this run when I was finished when he said, "You just did exactly what you said you'd do exactly the way you didn't want to have to." He was right about that. But, that's what makes all of this work: commitment.

Let's hear it for staring the week off right with a lovely Monday and an outside run! We're out of the triple digits of miles left before crossing the finish, so I'm anxious for some good, outside training! I'll see you after tomorrow's run!