A HILLY & WET TWELVE MILES

Well, this weekend was a "rest" weekend for me, meaning I only had to do twelve miles. Only 12! Wohoo! Yes, that was some sarcasm. Anyways, I think originally I had myself doing 10 miles, but then I realized I have the Rum Run 10k next weekend (preview to come) and figured I didn't want to take it too easy two weekends in a row. Since running a 10k at 7:20/mile is taking it easy and everything.

Anyways, some drinking was done the night before and I woke up on Saturday at 12:30pm a teensy hungover. I was not really feeling like going outside and pounding out twelve miles so I ended up putting off the run until about 2:30pm. Another factor delaying me from starting was the rain outside... it was light, but it was constant. According to the weather it was supposed to be "off and on showers" but the switch must have got stuck in the "on" position.

I finally got my ass out the door and started to run. It wasn't really cold, 56 degrees or so, and the rain was just light. You might classify them as sprinkles. Honestly, those first five miles were GLORIOUS. I don't know why, but I was really feeling it. I think I was feeling like it was a "fresh" start after the hangover and I was just taking it super easy so everything was coming up roses. Plus, it was "only" 12 miles, so it would be over before I knew it!


Shitty quality GIF snapshot of Saturday's run.

I plotted a modified version of my 10k route that would have me swinging by my house again at mile 7.5 in case I needed fluids. By the time I hit my house I was ready to be done but I wasn't feeling super thirsty, so I just continued on without stopping. I think I forgot about those next 4.5 miles when I was feeling so wonderful at the beginning.

Those last 4.5 miles sucked! By that time the light rain had fully penetrated me. I went from being lightly sprinkled on ("teehee" -Me) at mile two to full out fell in a swimming pool by mile 8. I was SOAKED. Then, to top it all off, the last 4.5 were hilly as heck. I did the route down the powerline parks and that route is just hilly for the sake of being hilly. You are either going up or down, rarely is it flat. So that was kind of annoying.

To top it all off, my genius route had me hoofing it up a major hill about mile 11. I was kind of grumpy at this point and my mile time was like 10:20. Eff this S. Finally though, I was done! By the time I got done I was super thirsty and pretty damn tired for doing an 'easy' 12 miles. That route was super hilly though and a really bad choice for a long run. Lesson learned.

Overall though, I enjoyed the run. Although I didn't like getting all wet and pruning up at mile nine, it was still fun to run in the rain when it wasn't super cold outside. I also just liked taking it easy and feeling pretty good until the last few miles. I just needed to realize that twelve miles at an easy pace is two hours and to temper my expectations when I'm feeling like a boss forty minutes in.

After the run I took a nice long bath, watched the Timbers pull out a 2-2 tie against Vancouver, then headed to Trader Joe's and became $100 poorer. Really needed to go shopping though, hadn't been in at least a month.