Monsoon

Last week's running did not go entirely as planned, but I did get to the long run....even if it, too, did not go entirely as planned.  In part, my plans were disrupted by a monsoon-type storm that made an appearance over the weekend.  In all of my years of running, I think that this is the first time I have run into weather issues for a long run (apart from trips to Arizona, which don't count).  That is pretty impressive.

It wasn't just the monsoon that I was worried about on Sunday, but possible thunderstorms.  I had planned to run out on the Clearwater Causeway (aka the evil hill in an upcoming half-marathon), but I didn't want to get stranded in case of weather.  It was a 10-mile run, so that was going to take me relatively far away.  There is not a lot of shelter out there.  So instead, I decided that I would run on the treadmill.  About half-way through, I decided that there was no point in finishing on the treadmill because I would probably kill myself if I continued, thereby making the whole training moot.  I finished up the remaining 5 miles outside to save myself from this fate.  I also got soaked, thanks to the monsoon, but that was better than the treadmill.  It was possible to make a route that was 2.5 miles without getting too far away from shelter in case of emergency, so that was fine.

The biggest treadmill issue, other than abject boredom, was the temperature in the room.  75F is not a good temperature for running.  I even had a fan right next to me and it was still too warm.  Ah well.

Earlier runs last week were not entirely successful.  I had a good 5 mile to start things off on Tuesday, then didn't get out for my Thursday run due to a number of lousy reasons (mostly bad planning on my part).  Saturday I didn't get in the mileage that I wanted, doing only 3 miles instead of 5.  But it was on that treadmill, so maybe I should see that as some kind of victory.

Update: it really was a monsoon.