Wind, Rain and Hills...Oh My!

Sat, April 16
8:52am - Ran 10 miles outside!
Time: 1:51:14; Average Pace: 11'06"

Wow. That pretty much sums up today's run. Well, first I have to thank my friend, Sharon, who re-framed my "oh, it is so windy and it might rain" complaining I was doing this morning before my run. She said, "hey a little bit a breeze will feel good...don't psyche yourself out". That is all I needed to hear. I headed out as soon as I got back from WW. I had a little bit of a time constraint as our new puppy was coming at 11am today!

I wanted to try out possible outfits for the race today. I wore my underarmor shorts with running shorts on top and a t-shirt with the nice fabric (what is that called?) with a windbreaker on top. I also wore a hat in case of rain. It was not raining when I started which was probably good, but it was really windy. After the first mile my hat blew off so I had to chase it! I stuffed in into my pocket. The run was rough for really just the first two miles. Usually it takes me three to get broken in, but today only 2. I only walked twice - once towards the beginning and once on a hill in Hudson Springs. It started sprinkling at mile three and then just kept on for the rest of the run. And, back on went the hat for the duration of the run. At one point I was running up the hill by the high school and I screamed to the air, "Come on, is that all you got?!" as I ran into the rain and the wind and the hill. At that moment my mantra was, "I am a warrior!!" and it worked! I really felt that way. I felt like I could conquer anything - so confident that I could do this - very aware of all my senses at once - just giving into the sweat, the rain, the dirt, and letting my body do what it knew how to do. I know this all sounds pretty hokey, but I really mean it! It felt awesome to complete this. I'm still nervous about the race, but I feel even better that I can do it now.

We had figured out the route last night in the car, as per usual since this was a new distance for me. Here is the route I ran - I'm writing it down for me, but thought I'd share just in case anyone is looking for a good 10 mile route! Across Boston Mills into the neighborhood and my usual route to the bus garage, turn left at the bus garage up to 91. Cross 91 into the Academy. Turn left on Hudson Street to Aurora. Turn left on Aurora all the way to Stow. Turn right on Stow all the way to Hudson Springs. Run the Hudson Springs path and come out again to Stow. Turn right onto Stow and take a left onto Victoria Parkway. Run all the way to Hayden. Left on Hayden to Streetsboro. Run Streetsboro through First and Main back to home.

Only one more mile to add (11 miles) in two weeks before doing the 13.1 in May. No sweat!

"Shooting at the walls of heartache
Bang, bang!
I am the warrior
Well I am the warrior
And heart to heart you'll win
If you survive the warrior, the warrior" Oh, yeah, Patty Smyth, you tell it!