There was group run scheduled at South Mountain in Emmaus today. It would've been nice to get a trail run done. However, I have a nail in my tire and my dad needed the other car to go to work. Therefore, I had to run around my neighborhood.
I took my good old time in getting ready for the run and out the door. I knew it was going to rain, but since I was only going to do a 7 mile run, I wasn't concerned. I should have been, as it was worse than I anticipated.
I wore a new pair of tights. I also had on a jacket over a ColdGear top and I wore my gloves too. It actually would've been decent weather if not for the rain. I had on a hat to block the rain from my head. That was a life saver.
What made the weather tricky was that it was nice in two directions and freezing cold in the other two. Most of the first half of the run was of the nice kind. I knew it would be a good day from a pace standpoint when the opening mile was 8:18. Usually, it is closer to 9 minutes flat.
I decided to mix in the somewhat short loop. It actually isn't that short, as it is over a mile long I think. This was when I first realized the run could be very cold at times. At least I was changing directions very often. Whenever I saw a car, I tried to be on the opposite side of the road as it.
I hammered away and the first 2 miles or so were actually kind of enjoyable. I was still dry and moving well. I knew that would change. I was thrilled when I reached the 3.5 mile point. Shortly after that, I saw my watch at 3.77. I thought about how nice it would be when I got to miles 4.77, 5.77 and 6.77. I happened to look at my watch at 4.77 too. I missed the other 2 though.
I was thrilled to click off every mile. Most of them were now under 7:45. That last 2 were certainly the toughest both physically and mentally. My clothes were finally soaked and I was running into the wind for the most part. I could feel that my legs were getting very cold. I had to just push through. In hindsight, I probably should've worn shorts over the tights, but I was worrying that that might cause chafing.
I got back to the elementary school at 6.5 miles. I was pretty happy with that. It mean only a short loop around my neighborhood remaining. I did that and finished up right past my house. I needed that because I was cold and couldn't afford to walk very far to warm up. All of my clothes were completely soaked.
My legs were bright red. It is a good thing I didn't have a longer run planned. I couldn't have run much more without changing my clothes today. I pushed the limit of running in the cold rain. Few things are worse than winter rain, but this was a shorter run and I was able to make the best of it. It was a good way to start off what I hope is another busy week.
Tomorrow, I'm planning to run about 15 miles. I'd like to try to run the last 5 at my goal marathon pace. I need to start incorporating more marathon paced training into my runs, now that my endurance is so good. I'm hoping that I don't have to work on New Year's Eve, so that I can run the Peepsfest 5k in the afternoon. That will be a game time decision.
7 miles - 53:59 (7:43 pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment