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Dopey Challenge Training - Week Thirteen

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"Runners don't get rained out, they get rained on." –Unknown

I stood on the front porch of my house this morning and cursed my decision to move my long run from Saturday to Sunday. Rain, rain, and more rain had fallen most of the night and would continue to fall throughout the day. The winds, with gusts up to 20mph, rattled the Christmas ornaments and lights hung on our leafless Magnolia tree in the front yard. Welcome to winter in the west side of the Pacific Northwest. Yuk.

I’ve never been in love with running in the rain. I grew up in Spokane, WA and enjoyed running in three of the four seasons that Eastern Washington is famous for. Warm summer evenings spent running on the Centennial Train. Fall weekend mornings crunching through the fallen maple leaves on Manito Boulevard. Winter nights running in the snow while enjoying the Christmas lights and Victorian homes in the lower South Hill. And then, it was spring and with it came the rains and the struggle to get out the door and on the roads. At that time in my life, I had two running partners that I regularly ran with during the week and on the weekends we ran together with our running club, the Sunday Slugs. The only excuse for not showing up was either an ice storm or an accident so no matter the weather I was there. Guilt and peer pressure are wonderful motivators.

Fifteen years later, I’m living further west where there are two main seasons; rainy (which is most of the year) and not so rainy. It’s the only place I’ve ever known where moss will actually grow on a car if it’s parked for too long. I’m on the road most weeks for work which means I’m no longer tied to a running club nor do I have running partners waiting on me. I’m on my own for guilt and motivation to get out on the weekends that I’m home which more often than not means sitting inside with a hot cocoa instead of venturing out in the rainy weather.

But today was different. There are only six weeks remaining until the Dopey Challenge and 48.6 miles in four days are waiting for me. There is no guarantee what the weather will be come January in Walt Disney World. Last year temperatures for the marathon weekend were miserably hot and humid; two years before that a snow storm chose that weekend to hit WDW (yes, there was snow in Florida). If I don’t get out and get used to running in all kinds of weather it will be even more difficult to survive the running challenges that lie ahead.

So, as tempting as it was to go back into the house, I headed out in the rain for a run. Didn’t make it the full 12 miles that I should have gone but the hour or so I was out on the roads felt like a little victory. And sometimes the little victories are the best.

We’ve got a lot of miles to cover this week including a 9 miler on Saturday followed by a 19 miler on Sunday. No matter the weather, let’s get out and enjoy the run.

Training Week Thirteen

Monday December 2nd – rest / Barre3

Tuesday December 3rd – 5 miles / Upper-body strength training

Wednesday December 4th – 5 miles/ Barre3

Thursday December 5th – rest / Lower-body strength training

Friday December 6th – 4 miles / Barre3

Saturday December 7th – 9 miles (including A Christmas Story 5k virtual run)

Sunday December 8th – 19 miles

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Comments

  1. vegaspixie's Avatar
    Looks like our schedules are in sync; this week is my 4-9-19 week too! (Mine are run Wed-Thur-Fri.) They are forecasting a chance of - ahem - SNOW for my 19 miles. In Vegas. Sigh... Totally brings back memories of Goofy 2010. Just gotta do it - hope your training goes well this week!
  2. RunningFool's Avatar
    I'm tracking Higdon's schedule (with a few exceptions for other runs). You?

    Snow in Vegas. Yuk. We're just cold here. Low of 19 degrees. Gotta get warmer in the mornings before I can hit the roads which really puts a crimp in the rest of the day. <sigh>

    Only a few more weeks to Dopey. What were we thinking!