Rain, Rain, Go Away!

First of all, a HUGE thank you to Christy! I won her giveaway for a pair of Pearl Izumi Thermal Arm Warmers and they got here last week (in pretty packaging and everything!). I've been wanting to try these for a while (seriously, I stare at things on Amazon for MONTHS before buying them) but I was never able to justify spending the money. I'm excited to try them out!

See? I'm EXCITED to go run in the rain!

My training plan had me running an "easy" 4 miles today. I put quotation marks there because Running World's plan wanted me to keep a 12:37/mile pace. Not. Gonna. Happen. I left campus and headed home at lunch, debating the whole way if I was going to run outside in the wind and rain that was coming or if I was going to wimp out and jump on the treadmill in the basement. Well, the first wave of the rain hit just as I got home. I was leaning towards the treadmill since I JUST washed the stink out of my orange rain coat ... and then I realized I still had my old high school rowing boat coat in my closet. I LOVE this thing! I miss wearing it almost as much as I miss rowing. It was 48* and breezy so I just threw on my capris and short-sleeve Under Armor shirt. I wore my trusty ball cap to keep the rain out of my eyes and my new sauconys (just how long am I going to keep calling these my "new shoes"?) got their first introduction to running in the rain. I took a snack bag and cut a slit in either end of it for the wristband of my Garmin so I could wear it on my wrist like always without worrying about it getting too wet.

Since I was already going to run in the rain, I decided to make the run even more interesting: 1) No iPod. I was super nervous about this (how the heck do people run whole marathons without music blasting away in their ears?!), but I REALLY didn't want to take the chance of it getting water-logged or damaged. 2) I took a route I haven't taken before. I've been eyeing this route for a while since I drive it pretty regularly, and it's really convenient when I'm home, but 2 of the roads I would run down can be pretty busy. I would NEVER run this route after dark or any time other than the middle of the day when traffic is light.

The run itself was pretty great, actually. The no-iPod thing would have REALLY bothered me if I hadn't needed to pay such close attention to the cars and trucks whizzing by me. Cars going the same direction as me (but on the other side of the road ... I know enough to run INTO traffic) always seemed to cross the center line just as they were passing me, like a moth to the flame or something. Weird. You'd think cars on the other side of the road would be nearly oblivious. Cars coming at me either barely gave me room (which is just fine because the shoulder of the road is wide enough for breathing room even if they sit right on the painted line) or they got all the way over onto the side of the road (completely unnecessary, but whatever floats your boat). I didn't even get splashed by any cars until I was back in my own neighborhood (It was our next-door neighbor and she called me afterwards and apologized). I really enjoyed running in the light rain, though I can't say I'd still enjoy it if it was pouring. My legs felt strong most of the way except for when I had to avoid a break in the pavement and I stepped funky. My ankle twinged a bit there but it felt fine again after a couple normal steps. When I saw my time for my first mile, I freaked out a bit and expected to feel the pain in my side but it never really happened. I had to focus on my breathing a bit as I was running back up the other side of the Swan Creek basin on SR 295, but I never had to take a break and catch my breath.

Oh, and I got back on the wagon and make friends with Jillian Michaels this evening. Back to 30 Day Shred, Level 1.

Finally for tonight ... Rest In Peace, Joe Paterno. I didn't like Penn State and I'm still disgusted with how the sex abuse scandal was handled (hit a little too close to home), but he was an amazing man who will be greatly missed. No matter how much we made fun of him for his voice and his age, he was a legend in college football and the State College community. JoePa will never be forgotten. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.