A test of one's sense of humor

Typical Polar Vortex Attire. Oh, and I forgot the PANTS part of the equation. Yes. I normally wear pants when it's -6 million degrees out!

I had it all figured out.

Last night the Big Boys and Scott were headed to a camp event just north of Boston. They would  be getting home around 11PM. Gabe and I went straight from school to the 'cheap' grocery store about 45 minutes away to get that drugery done. We stopped at Olympia Sports because I was out of Gu. We had a quick slice of pizza (don't judge, it was a Friday night!) and headed home. He went to bed late but not too late (7:45). I had the rest of the evening to clean up a bit, read my book, and go to bed early.

All this because I had it all figured out.

Ya see, the weather today was supposed to warm up and good deal. This information was received by me with an enormous "hallelujah!" since my morning runs have been outrageosly cold. (I cut both my 8-milers to 7-milers last week because: a) it was probably best not to be out there for too long; and, b) it actually takes me 10 minutes to get my layers on. I count that as a mile!) The forecast also called for lots of rain, which is a bummer, but not a deal breaker. As we got close enough to look at the hour-by-hour projections, I decided that I would get up "Saturday-early" (5:15AM... weekday-early is 4:15AM). The way things were looking it would be 27-degrees and cloudy at that point with a chance of snow. This temperature would feel balmy after my last week and I  knew I wouldn't be stuck in that horrible in-between stage when it could be freezing rain.

Ya see, I had it all figured out!

Increasing my anticipation of this ingenious plan, I decided to drive out to a section of my planned route for Pay It 40-ward and run there. I had 22 miles scheduled. My plan was to park at a school on the route, run 6  miles out one way, 6  miles back to my car, stop there and refresh my water bottles, eat 1/2 a bagel, ditch my headlamp and other night running gear, and then run another 5 out and back in the other direction. I LOVED the idea of hitting a piece of the route.

I had it all figured out, right?

Going to bed early was easy since the Scott, Tom and Elliott were not home. I went to bed so pleased with myself... I should have known it wouldn't work.

When my alarm went off and 5:15 it still felt entirely too early. I grabbed the phone and checked the weather. It was, as I recall, 28 degrees. I felt good about the precipitation being snow, if there was any at all. I got myself dressed, hydrated, and mildly fueled (first 1/2 of the bagel) and headed for the car. When I pulled out of the garage I saw that it was raining. Raining-raining, not just sprinkling. I headed back inside to grab another water-proof-ish layer and my Yak Trax... just in case. This time when I got back in the car, the wind shield was ice covered. Ruh roh.

On the main road I knew immediately I probably wasn't going to do 22 full miles in the weather we were having. It was just way too cold and wet for over 3 hours of effort. Maybe I could do 10 or 12 miles.... As I continued to drive I noticed that I was sliding a bit on the road. And then I was sliding sort of a lot on the road. Crap on crutch.

So, that did it. I turned the car around and headed home. I made bread instead.

When Scott got up he suggested I head to the high school and run the halls. Worse ideas have been floated. I was a bit trepidatious because I REALLY didn't want to 'run into' anyone while I was there so I instead went to the Arts Center where I knew there were no events happening.

In the end I learned:

1. 9 laps around the Arts Center hallways = 1 mile.
2. Though I normally swoon over the show, repeat broadcasts of This American Life are hit and miss for indoor running... some are just way.too.sad. and running around the hallways there is nothing to distract you.
3. The quiz show "Ask Me Another" is the PERFECT podcast for indoor running because you can always just focus on what the right answer is/might be. If you haven't heard it and you like public radio at all, you will LOVE this show.
4. I can run so very much faster on flat, even surfaces in temperate climates than I can on icy, hilly surfaces and sub-zero temperatures. Okay, that's not a shocking information but for today it was FUN!

I ended up doing 12 miles total. I am scheduled to do 8 tomorrow. To that end, I am going to shoot for 18  miles tomorrow morning. It's supposed to STOP RAINING by then and be moderately warmish. Here's hoping!!

Up my nose and around and around and around the arts center. (12 miles x 9 laps = WHAT now?!)

 Hope you are finding good ways to sweat this weekend. Only 900 weeks till Spring, I think!