Rainy Days

I can't believe that I am now in week 8 of my 20 week training plan!  It has gone by so fast, and I can say that I am actually getting more excited about my runs and not necessarily dreading them as much as I used to.  My miles are slowly increasing, but because it's gradual nothing has seemed too overwhelming yet.  I skipped my first run due to a bad headache; I was weighing out the options and the thought of not being able to mark off the day as completed and I struggled with it but ultimately decided that missing one run was not going to ruin everything :)

We were fortunate to get rain last week, but of course I started to panic about when I was going to be able to get my run in on Saturday, especially since I had missed my Thursday run.  It's crazy how once you are in a training schedule, everything else in life seems to revolve around your runs.  It poured and poured all night Friday and all morning Saturday, and then about 12:30 I noticed the pouring had stopped and knew this was my chance to sneak out before the next downpour.  I realized what a blessing it is to be able to run right after rain because everything looks so much more colorful, refreshed, and vibrant. There was running water in the little creak I run next to, and the ducks were exploring the changed environment.  So i was really enjoying my surroundings and about a mile from home when the clouds opened up once again and It started pouring.  Quickly, I thought about my options... Run to a nearby park and duck for cover in the bathrooms, turn around and head straight for home, or continue on with my planned run which would take me farther away from home...

I decided to run towards the park, but when I got close the rain started to slow down to more of a drizzle so I kept going on towards home, thinking well 2 miles is better than nothing right?  Luckily the rain stopped, so I decided that I would loop back around to add a couple more miles, but stay within a mile of the house incase it started to rain again.  I got really lucky and was able to complete the whole run before rain came again.  When I got home I felt a little hot-headed thinking, yep, that's right, I am hardcore, I ran in the rain!

So overall, things have been going well.  I have my good days, and my less than good days, but am enjoying the process and the structure of the schedule.  The one thing I feel like I am struggling with the most is food.  I struggle both with not eating enough good foods, and not eating enough food in general to support the number of calories I burn during my runs.  I will continue working on creating a healthy and more well balanced meal plan.  I have found a few helpful articles from Runner's World on good foods for runners to eat, you can click on the links below to check them out:

15 Best Foods for Runners

Protein for Runners 101

25 Great Snacks for Runners