Saturday weather reports were for calling for rain, wind and chilly temps so I wasn't anticipating my Saturday run with much enthusiasm! And there appeared to be no breaks in the bad weather. It was one front followed by another which was actually projected to bring even worse rain and wind than the first front. Figuring the best time for my run would be earlier in the day rather than later I made it an early night on Friday and got up around 7:30 AM Saturday. About an hour and a half later, after coffee and a breakfast of Pre-Formance (by the Cytomax people) as well as some stretching, I headed out. It was drizzling and about 44 degrees but not at all unpleasant. Headed up Jeb Stuart, around the Hughesville loop to Beaverdam Bridge Road. Ran with the iPod again (this time on Shuffle), Fuel Belt loaded up with Cytomax bottles and two gels (Accel Gel Vanilla and Hammer Gel Espresso). First couple of miles weren't bad and it got even better as I got warmed up. It was 6 miles at the intersection of Turkey Roost and Beaverdam so I added another mile by heading up Turkey Roost to 611 and back. Was raining a bit harder at this point in the run but still not bad. Back to Beaverdam and up to Leith, down to Mountville and out to Foxcroft Road making it 9.5 miles. Still no major aches or pains. Had the first gel at about mile 8.5. The rain had slowed down again which was nice. No more water dripping down my face! Back to Beaverdam for the return route. By about Mile 13 it was actually getting warm and the sun was coming out. What a change. A few little aches and pains around the knees but nothing really significant. Took a few 45 second walks and that small respite worked great for alleviating the discomfort. Back down to Jeb Stuart and Beaverdam -- left on Beaverdam to add a bit of mileage, back around across Snickersville and started the loop home. Clocked it at 16.1 miles with the slow pace of 12:51.
Post-run did some more stretching, drank some water, had a Smart Ones Angel Hair Marinara and then off to the nice warm shower. Then out to Berryville to the beer store for their Belgian tasting. Not a bad post-run reward!
All in all this run was much easier than my run last week in Florida. The temps in the low 40s are much more to my liking than the 60s and 70s it was down in Florida. Even the rain wasn't bad -- the steady downpour only lasted about 20 minutes total and the rest of the time it was either a slight drizzle or actually dry and sunny. My legs felt better, I walked less (although my overall time for the distance was 4 minutes slower today than last week in Florida -- go figure -- I think it must be the fact that today's run included a lot more hill work. The only "hills" in Florida were the two causeways!). Took 400 mg of Advil this morning and will take another dose at the 7-8 hour mark. My right leg is the only body part that is uncomfortably sore -- feels like it may be IT Band issue. But that's a little unusual -- it's usually my left leg and that feels fine. No significant fatigue (and it's now about 3-1/2 hours post-run).
I do find that listening to the iPod during my runs I don't spend as much time thinking about other stuff -- like drivers, politics, my to-do list, etc. It's kind of nice to have the music and I liked the Shuffle setting but I also like the "thinking" time.
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