Monday, September 25, 2006

When It Rains...It REALLY Pours

This past Saturday morning I decided to sleep in rather than meet my group for a "puny" little cut back 10 mile training run. It was nice and warm in bed and I decided to do one of my favorite out and back 10 mile runs "sometime" Saturday afternoon.

Well, I finally got out the door at 4:00 p.m and figured an hour and 45 minutes from Oak Street Beach here on the Lakefront to a little past McCormick Place to the south would be a nice casual solo run for me. I've done it many times before so it seemed like a good plan.

The stroll to McCormick Place or around 5 miles was a good warmup and I turned back north to make my way back up the lakefront to Oak Street Beach. Jolly good time I was having. About a mile into my return trip, around Soldier Field it started to rain a bit and it felt good on my bare chest and back. When I run on my own I prefer no clothing but I do keep my shorts on here in the city to avoid jail time.

I looked to the skyline up north and it was pitch black, clouds were rolling and I said to myself "self, you're in for a long haul here." By the time I got to Shedd Aquarium, maybe 3 miles left of my return home, the wind and rain started whipping in "sideways" directly into my face. And I said to myself "self, this is survival just keep moving and try to stay on your feet so they don't have to dredge the lake for you." The next mile had to be worth a 5 mile tempo run. So much for a nice casual mid-range run.

In a quirkish way, it was enjoyable and cleansing and my breathing rate certainly told me I was building endurance. And what was really funny is there were a few other idiots on the lakefront also trying to do something like running, so I wasn't totally alone...and that's kinda nice... sometimes.

I took Sunday and today, Monday, off. Tuesday a 5 miler, Wednesday speed work with my groupies, Thursday 5 miler and Saturday morning is our granddaddy 20 miler. This training season I'm also doing the Chicago half marathon on Sunday so I'm facing a new challenge. I've done 20 mile training runs before and followed them with an easy 5 the next day to loosen up but never a half, so we'll see what happens.

My nephew told me it would really help build endurance and be a confidence builder and I agree. I'll see how I feel Saturday afternoon and I always reserve the right to bag a run if my body and mind is just too spent. I don't want to injure myself at this point because I've come too far this summer.

Keep on truckin!

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