This is one of those days when if I really had wanted to run, I could’ve.
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| The roads a couple of hours after the storm stopped |
I had a litany of excuses not to head out the door. You know, things like freezing rain, crappy road conditions, ice, or sore muscles from running in crappy road conditions yesterday. However, running today would have meant me putting on my big boy pants, taking the ice cleats off my boots, and putting them on my trail shoes, then going out and enjoying the winds, freezing rain, and crappy roads.
All of which I have done many times before.
As you can tell from the 90-second video that I took after walking Bennie, that the storm was coming in quickly. He had walked to the end of the driveway again and just turned around to walk back up to the house. Sometimes he can be a really smart dog. It was almost as though he knew that the storm would be there soon.
Just listening to the wind coming through the trees let me know that the storm wasn’t going to be any fun, and by the end of the video, the steady droplets of rain coming down, made the choice quite easy.
Quite simply, I didn’t feel like running in that stuff again – today. It wasn’t a question of whether I could or not, it was that I had decided not to. Going outside to play in the wonderful conditions wasn’t something that I wanted to do.
So, I didn’t run.
Having access to a treadmill would have gotten the run done this morning, but I don’t and I will keep whining about it until I can safely go back to the gym and have access to a treadmill. Waiting until later wasn’t in the plan either, and no, I didn’t bother with an elliptical workout either and yes, I know that the elliptical is a great running alternative.
Although I did write a pretty good blog post with the time I usually devote to running and stuff. Unfortunately, writing a blog post will not get the actual running done that I need to do. I don’t need to fantasize or have character-building runs, I need to safely get my miles in. Letting the weather dictate whether I run or not, will result in not having enough fitness to go down the paths I am thinking about this spring.
This was not exactly what I planned to do this week for training. However, running outside in January, in Maine, is a matter of mind over matter, or is that if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. The conditions mattered to me today, and I did mind.
Going forward, to get my runs in, I will have to get into suck-it-up mode, get outside to get the base work in that is necessary for me to accomplish some ideas that I want to try later this year, whatever the weather is. With an eye to keeping myself safe at the same time. There are limits and I have to be thinking about more than “having” to get a planned run done.
Let’s see, I gotta find those big boy pants for next week, I have a feeling. Tuesday and Wednesday morning forecasts to be quite cold, with below zero Fahrenheit temps and worse wind chills. As long as the roads are reasonable, I might even give it a go, but if it is too miserable, there is always the elliptical.
I am totally excited, can’t you tell.
Come with me now, the best is yet to be.
Harold's Blog 