50 Shades of Gray Skies...

This morning I woke up to very gray skies and the steady patter of rain drops on the roof.  I immediately chuckled to myself as yesterday when so many of my tweeps were headed out for heir long runs in the rain and I had the audacity to think "Thank goodness there is only a 30% of rain tomorrow morning".  I even responded to a tweet asking if I ran in the rain to which i responded like this:

I had to walk the walk this morning!

Let me tell you the scenario this morning at 7:30am...

DadonEmpty:  It's raining

MomonEmpty: We run in the rain

DOE:  No it's pouring

MOE:  So we are not running  (I now snuggle back in to bed with the dog and we start to discuss whether we should run Monday or increase all our mileage over the week and do 8.5 next Sunday to compensate)

DOE:  (about 5 min later) While getting up and grabbing his compression shorts "Okay... we are going....


Talk about gray areas!!!  Usually we are good motivators for each other and we are both very committed to our training so we don't need a lot of push to get out and run but this morning was different.  I had spent a great deal of yesterday freaking out  mildly anxious about our planned 8 miles.  I hadn't mapped out my run, I wasn't able to visualize the end point and I just plain wasn't behind my own success. Regardless, I got up and got dressed.

Once I was out I felt great from my very first step to my very last.  I haven't had a long run like that in a very long time!  It may actually be the first time I had no self doubt during a long run.  Perhaps it was all the support I had on my way out the door from my Sweat Pink Sisters, or the new playlist I tried out 'accidentally', or maybe my body was just ready.  I'm gonna blame it on the rain (yeah, yeah...  I know I just aged myself but I am sure at least 5 of you know the lyrics).  Just in case you don't.... click here. 

I took a mint chocolate GU Packet right at mile 4 because it was in my fuel belt and I happened to notice 43 minutes had gone by.  I figured I probably had another 45 minutes to go and I could use the fuel since all I had eaten before we headed out was a peanut butter Clif Bar   I figured it was worth the 100 calories was worth not feeling my body quit between miles 6 and 7.  Turns out I was right.  I'm so thankful my body is finally speaking the same language as my brain...

I actually started feeling a tiny bit silly after mile 5 when I finally got to the part of the trail where I feel most comfortable.  I told myself I was about to pass my escape route that could lead me to a half mile route to home at 5.5 miles just in case it started to rain.  Then I saw the bench.  I apologize if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (momonempty) as you have already seen these...

For the record:  I did not sit!!!!!

Right above this bench is a big yellow STOP AHEAD sign.  It definately screws with my head on bad days but today it made me giggle....  No thank you, I think I'll finish my amazing 8 mile run!!

This is actually an old railroad mile marker.

This made me laugh even harder.  I'm not sure why but I think it had something to do with asking the Universe to help me survive this 8... I couldn't imagine running 83 miles! 

This is where I could have turned at the break in the trail to go home.  I'm so glad I didn't because I would have missed out on the rest of this amazing mileage.  At this point I just plain felt great.  I was confident and smiling and soaking wet.

At mile 6 I met this guy trying to plug his way uphill.  I immediately felt better about life in general.  If this snail was trying to get up the hill I was running down, My life was not nearly as hard as his and all things were good.  I ran through the streets to meet back up with the trail and decided to follow the old railroad tracks on the way back.

NOTE:  Rocks hurt when you run on them

I took about 8 oz of fruit punch flavored Nuun at mile 7.  I hadn't needed it before then and could probably have skipped it if I had needed to but it felt right so I drank.  For the second time in the run I was thankful that my nd and body are starting to work together for my benefit instead of conspiring against me.

When I finally hit home I felt amazing.  I MAY have shouted yes about ten times when my gps told me I'd hit 8 miles and it was just (barely) under 90 minutes.  I'm positive it could have been a few minutes faster if I had not stopped a bunch of times to take photos and laugh at myself.  In the end, I was so glad I did.  It may not have been a PR for me but I was one of my all time favorite runs.  Now all I have to do is duplicate that feeling over again next week!!!

QUESTION:  WHAT CLICKED FOR YOU THIS WEEK?  DID YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS ABOUT WHAT YOU WERE CAPABLE OF?  HOW DID YOU BEAT THEM?