NOT WHAT I HAD PLANNED – PART 2

Like I mentioned yesterday, I pulled myself away from Spidy halfway through the movie (even though I wasn’t that tired) so I could get 7.5 hours of sleep. Yes, I was up at 4:45 and ready to run. I got up, got dressed, got my things ready to go. All that was left was to take Bailey for a quick walk. I get outside and it’s UGLY. Even though it’s still dark out, the skies are DARK – except for the constant lightning. No rain (yet) so I decide to drive across town (into the storm) and see what happens.

Halfway there it starts POURING. Even though the roads aren’t really busy yet, it’s all white-knuckle driving. It takes all my concentration to focus on the car lights in front of me and hope he doesn’t go off the road. After 5 minutes it lets up and I’m able to turn my wipers from super-high to high. Call me a wimp, but there’s no way I’m running in this crap. Give me a snow storm any day.

Basically getting up at 4:45 allowed me to sit and drink coffee for an hour, prep for my fantasy football draft next Tuesday and browse the new Triathlete magazine. I don’t do tris now, but I still like to read the magazine (more than I like Runner’s World). I hate all the gadgets associated with the sport, but man, there are some really fit triathletes.

Anyway, on to Plan B. Why do speed work Friday when you can race Saturday? There’s a 5K in Rochester, MN tomorrow morning that I think I’m going to run. It’s a little further (70 miles) than I’d like to drive, but Jim’s doing the half marathon, so I can cheer him on when I’m done. Besides, Amy is going to a wedding at noon, so I’ll have the girls the rest of the day. I’d better get my “alone time” in before she leaves.

Finally, I had a great 5 mile run over lunch. My legs felt awesome and it made me wish I had done a speed workout. Plus my lungs felt great. You know those runs where you never seem to get tired? Each time you think you're going to start breathing hard, you take a deeper breath and you feel the oxygen throughout your whole body. That's how I felt today.