Woke up this morning to a storm overhead and 12 miles to get under my feet. What to do, what to do. GET WET! I got dressed, laced up and strapped on my fuel belt, walked out the door and caught a flicker of lightening. FUCK! 1...2...3...4...no thunder. I opened the gate and hit my Garmin. Well, a few miles in the hood to see where the storm is heading. Mile 1 a little more lightening but still no thunder, the storm wasn't that close. I decide to run my normal weekday route a bit for good measure, the more down in the hood the closer I can stay to the house in case things get bad. Mile 2.5 decision time put my big girl panties on or go home. I head to the Farm to Market road so I can really get a feel for what's up with the storm. More lightening off in the distance and behind me. Looked like two cells converging right over my head. How far to go? There is a Stripes on Greenhouse, if have to stop I can wait things out there. I get to Greenhouse 4 miles down, 8 to go. Fuck it, make the turn head south for a 1/2 mile and then bring it back up, anything to not have to run to Wal-mart. Weather is holding, but wait is that rain I feel on the back of my legs, nope, just my water bottle leaking on me. I keep going, there is a Shell at Fry I can wait things out there if I need to. By the time I get to Fry the lightening calms down but it now starts to rain, 6.25 miles. I turn around and head towards Wal-mart. Mile 7 the sun is coming up. Not that I can actually see the sun rise, but the storm clouds have now turned pink. Runners talk of many things, my favorite is watching the sun rise with a well earn bead of sweat on my brow. For me the only thing more beautiful than the pink sky is the amazing light show that has started up again in the distance. The rain in falling faster now. Mile 7.4 back at Greenhouse this time I head north until I hit mile 8, then turn back to my familiar route. Dead cat mile 9.25 (normally my mile 5 marker) heading to Barker Cypress at this point stopping is not a option. I came to the realization that no matter what happened this morning I was going to go home soaked. It was either going to be rain or sweat. I hit Barker 9.75 watching my watch, I no longer am worried about my pace, I am worried about where the fuck am I going to turn around at. I know when I get back to this point I have a mile left to get home, so how far do I need to go to get my miles in. I start checking the distance between the telephone poles, turns out they are .03 miles apart. I keep pounding away. I hit the light at Queenston and I stop to let the light change. What's the difference between joggers and runners? When joggers wait at stop lights they keep moving, runners stop and stand there with a pissed look on their face. I was pissed alright, I over shot my run. I double crossed and headed back to the Exxon. I passed the Wafflehouse and noticed my shoes were sloshing. The rain was now beginning to puddle in the bike lane. My timer goes off, I grab my water bottle is empty, I reach the other one, it's out too. The next .25 mile I spend debating gateraid or orange juice, gateraid or oj? I finally reach the Exxon, the people are funny. The normal guy isn't working so the fat frog like girl gives me crap about dripping all over the store. WTF it's raining. OJ it is and I head around back to the secret path back into the hood. Mile 11.75 - 1/4 mile to go. Almost too easy. I keep going I hit the park and come to a dead stop. 12.28 total run at 13 m/m with 15:1 ratio. Not bad I que up my watch to capture the walk home. .38 mile which took me over 8 minutes, oh my I was tired.
Next week 10k race, week after Houston Half. Oh my here we go!
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