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Posts from the ‘Seasons’ Category

Jun 28

Juxtaposing the negatives with the positives

Some days you wake up and just know that it’s not going to be a good one. The day just takes on a certain “air” to it. Today was one of those days, for various reasons.

Today was the first day since I left my full-time newspaper job that I was genuinely frustrated. More frustrated than I can even relay. See that face? That’s what I looked like at 6 a.m. this morning when I realized that a name server propagation that I started the day before still wasn’t showing up for me. The good news is that my boss could see it.

So could the client. But any necessary changes would be completely unseen by me.

Head. Hits. Desk. In. Frustration.

The site turned out to be fine, a beautiful culmination of four-months of work. It was one of those issues, the first in a long time, I had to admit was completely out of my control. I couldn’t make anything happen faster. I did everything correct. It just wasn’t showing up for me. Hence the 6 a.m. wake-up call for me.

And, yes, those are my running clothes. And my husband has a Samuel Adams mirror. My new “schedule” lately has been waking up early, working for about three hours, then heading out for a run before it hit the triple-digit temperatures we’ve been getting in Northern California lately.

As I was trying to navigate through all of that, I also remembered that today was the day I should be checking my email for word from Nike about random-draw entry into the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. A huge group of ladies from my running club signed up, and a man or two. I’ve mentioned before my luck over the past two years.

In 2011, I didn’t get in through random draw. But I got to run as part of a sponsored team. In 2012, my running club group was accepted through random draw.

This year? Not so much.

goodbad2

As much as I wasn’t surprised and slightly relieved that the $175 race fee wouldn’t be deducted from my American Express, I was really sad for the women in the running club who wanted this to be their first half marathon.

And it’s still kind of a bummer. But it, essentially, solidified my race calendar for the rest of 2013.

But as much as I wanted to rebel against the Nike random draw and say “buy all the Lululemon things instead” (one of my friends did that, apparently, I like that idea), I realized that the positives in my running life and my life in general are completely outweighing the negative.

Sometimes you need to be reminded about things like that. These are the things I’m thankful for right now:

SITE LAUNCHES

A year ago, I felt like I was fighting never-ending battles and getting nowhere. My creativity was hampered. I just felt like I was going nowhere in my profession anymore. There was no growth personally or professionally.

Today marked the fourth (or fifth?) site that I’ve helped launched that I’ve worked on. And this one was MASSIVE. I spent an enormous amount of time on it over the past few months. When a site finally goes live, there’s just a feeling that encompasses both relief, but also great satisfaction that I did something amazing.

I’m thankful that I’m back to growing in my work and learning new things every day.

EATING REAL FOOD

goodbad6

I didn’t make mention of it here, because I was still a little unsure of making a commitment, but about a month ago, I decided that my husband and I were no longer eating quick-pasta meals, frozen pizzas or anything that came out of a box in our freezer. At least for dinner.

I’ve had some severe stomach issues in the last two months, thanks to my missing gallbladder (which I still, for the record, don’t miss). I’ve had to trim down even more from what I was eating even two months ago. My body is rebelling.

Since I’ve cut out a lot of processed things, that’s stopped. Unfortunately I can’t cut down on ALL processed food. My husband doesn’t support that diet. He should, but he’s a spice-it-up-and-cook-it-to-taste-good-even-if-it’s-not-all-that-healthy guy. That said, I realized in the middle of my site launch last night that I hadn’t yet eaten dinner.

I buckled and went to McDonald’s. I immediately regretted it. And my stomach made me very aware it was not happy. Back to real food.

HIP HEALTH

goodbad5

Ignore my slightly-dirty running clothes. That’s my ever-offending left hip that’s been giving me problems. On Wednesday, I ran seven miles in the morning. Then I went out to Mountain House and ran three with my running club. I even kept pace with the lead runner.

goodbad1My leg wasn’t screaming at me at all. In fact, it felt nice to get out and run a faster, stronger pace. That was my longest-distance day of the week. I realized that I’m oh-so-close to 100 miles, which I’ve told myself repeatedly isn’t my goal each month.

But with two days left, I’m eight miles away. I’m not feeling bad. I’m running well. And the stupid hip injury may have just been a symptom of pretty significant overuse (someone remind me not to book five races in a two-month period), instead of something more permanent.

I’m keeping my paces mostly slow, but if I can keep going at this rate, I should be able to pick the pace back up in a week or so.

PREVIOUS ACCOMPLISHMENTS

goodbad4

Most people run Nike for a necklace. I’ve run it the past two years because I wanted to challenge myself. It’s a tough course. It’s a beautiful course. But it’s not the only San Francisco-based run that goes along that route.

In fact, the first half of the San Francisco Marathon covers nearly an identical route, except in the last couple miles.

The necklace is a nice touch. It’s a beautiful gift. But both my Nike Women’s Marathon necklaces aren’t exactly my favorite necklaces ever. I have a roman numeral 26.2 necklace that I love more. I’m more afraid of losing my Nike necklaces than anything. So I don’t wear them often.

I would have been excited if I got in. But the price increase this year kind of turned me off.

But you know what? I’ve run five marathons. In August, I’m running my 20th half marathon.

“I didn’t get in,” I pouted to my husband earlier.

“Boo hoo,” he replied back.

As much as I’d love to get a reprieve entry and, maybe, run it, I’m good with the wait until next year. No running over to the Nike Facebook page and complaining about how unfair it is. No crying. No regrets.

It’s just another race. Two years ago it meant the world to me, because it was the one race I saw myself doing that crazy first-year of running half marathons. I’ve been lucky enough to run it.

I’ve mentioned before how I’ve cut down on races year after year. I think 2014 will include even fewer. I think most people will think it’s for financial reasons, but in reality it’s not. It’s because I’m running better, with not as much stress weighing on me. That’s making embrace running more and really want to put 100-percent into a race. I can’t do that racing twice a month, even if one race is a 10K.

So I’m cutting back. I realized when finishing the San Francisco Marathon that after five marathons, I’m finally understanding 26.2 better. I don’t think 2014 will be the “year of the marathon” like this has turned into the “year of the PR,” but I’m becoming less anxious about the goals I once considered “unattainable.”

Now everything is a little bit more within reach.

May 25

A view from the water

Ever since we were married in May 2008, my husband has talked about buying a kayak. But it was never really a reality because even if we purchased a kayak, we’d have no way to transport it. Or, prior to moving into our current house in 2010, had nowhere to put it. The biggest part of it, though, was transportation.

Then we bought our Jeep last year.

And the “talk” turned into plans. My husband has spent the past eight months, since we bought the car, doing research and comparing prices. On Friday, he asked to take the Jeep to work.

Only later in the day, when he told me he’d be home a little later than usual, did he spill the beans about finding a good quality used one in the Bay Area. So he came home with a 17-foot, two-person kayak. He also had two paddles and two life jackets.

And he had me help him take it off the racks of the Jeep, which we purchased with part of our tax return. It was heavy. Since my January surgery, I haven’t done as much to strengthen my core as I could be. I’m going to need to work on that if he’s going to have me lifting the kayak in the future, which it sounds like is in the plans.

This morning we ventured to Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore. It’s one of the closet bodies of water to us, plus it’s a beautiful place to run.

So today we went out in the water. We kayaked three miles into Badger Cove, the place the Brazen Racing race is named after.

Today’s two-hour voyage left me a little dehydrated and my hands sunburned. My stomach was actually on the fritz all this week. I’m not sure why, but it’s becoming bothersome. Things that were making me queasy a couple months ago have been for the past month. I was told I’d have to “rediscover my normal” after having my gallbladder removed, but this late? I think the heat, or the back and forth of heat lately, has something to do with it. It hasn’t really impacted my running that much. More annoying than anything.

But my husband offered to make this a regular thing. He’ll go kayaking for a couple hours. I can go run the trails at Del Valle Regional Park. Or I can join him. He said it’s up to me.

Sounds like a plan, either way.

May 11

Channeling my inner mermaid

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I’m working on my race report for the Mermaid Series Sirena 18 tonight, trying to keep on top of posts for the multiple races I’ll be doing in coming weeks. But I figured I would post a quick update about how it went.

The first 11 miles were great, averaging miles with the 10-minute mark in front of them. I felt really good until about the time I hit the turnaround with a picturesque view of Coyote Hills in the foreground, then I was running straight into the sun. And I felt it. Every single step of the way.

I had to re-read my race report from last year to realize this was a problem for me then too. Basically I melt when running into the sun. Or at least that’s what it felt like today.

My last seven miles were a struggle to keep in 12-minute range, many edging up, but not quite getting to 13.

I felt like I could have performed a lot better in those last seven miles. But I’m really proud of how I did. I took nearly 10 minutes off my time from last year. I had fun. I felt like it went by a lot faster, because it did. And I felt like I knew I could do it from the get go.

So I’m not upset. Just a little disappointed that those last seven miles weren’t as good as the first 11. But getting in 11 miles in under two hours is impressive for me, not matter how I feel about the whole race right now.

I’m proud. And that’s probably the biggest difference between me as runner now and me as a runner a year ago: These things are no longer disappointments. They are just part of the journey.

Mar 31

A very soggy Easter

We’ve had a hell of a storm over the past 24 hours in Northern California. It let up for a little while today, while I hosted a small Easter gathering, but nearly 30 minutes after my family left, it started pouring again.

While I was making dinner, it was already coming down pretty good.

Then the clouds parted. The sun came out. I figured it was over. But I haven’t been watching the news religiously about the storm. My husband has. He knew another round, with thunder and lightning, was on the way.

When the next downpour started, he went outside right in the middle of it to unclog our drains in the backyard. Our ducks were having a fun time running through the big puddles, but the water was coming up to the house and on the concrete porch.

He then went and checked the front of our house, where the drainage from our backyard flows underground to the sidewalk in the front. He ran back in yelling: “You have to come see this!”

He was really, really excited.

Right down the street from us, not even 100 yard, the entire street was completely flooded.

rain

So, of course, he wants to take our new-to-us Jeep for a spin around the block and right through the puddle. We drove around the block a couple times, going through some pretty big puddles. Then we joined our neighbors and watched people hit the flood on our street. The compact and sports cars mostly turned around. There was no trying for them.

We did see one Mustang go through it.

We saw big, lifted trucks gun it through the flooded area.

Some cars got halfway through, stopped, and turned around. It wasn’t too deep, but the neighbor children were getting our wake boards and putting on bathing suits to play in it. I don’t think I’d want to play in it, it’s all runoff, but they were having a good time.

Our neighbors were laughing. We joked about having lakefront property.

I even shot some video.

It’s still pretty damp outside.

When my husband and I drove around the neighborhood, we went by my running paths. The paths are designed around drainage ditches in the neighborhoods, probably the nicest drainage system I’ve seen in a city in a long time.

The runoff areas were flooded as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them like that. And we’ve lived here for nearly three years. It was pretty amazing.

I’m glad I did my eight-mile run yesterday when it was still nice and sunny too.

Sep 19

Sometimes even bad runs can be good

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the past year is that sometimes a bad run can actually be a good thing. It can also be a good run in other ways than time.

It all depends on how I define what “bad” will be on any given day.

A couple weeks ago, I set out with my running buddy Jennie for what was supposed to be a 15-mile run. I was still exhausted from the week before, after working over several days and ushering my students through the first issue of the newspaper for the school year. I had hardly any sleep the night before our Sunday run.

Jennie, too, showed up exhausted.

I admitted that I was considering canceling. She was thinking about it too. Both of us really wanted to run, though.

There’s a popular mantra that says “running is cheaper than therapy.” I didn’t believe that until I started running with friends.

You can cover a lot of ground over six miles, and not just the distance. You can talk about different topics, analyze problems and, generally, really get to know a person. That’s why I run with my friends. I enjoy the athletic part as much as I do the togetherness aspect.

So on this particular Sunday, we were dragging. Not just a little, but a lot.

Our first three miles seemed to go on forever. We didn’t seem to be able to find our stride. After our first bathroom stop, Jennie mentioned that she didn’t think she’d be able to make it to 15. I didn’t think I’d be able to either.

My feet just didn’t want to carry me.

It was also the day I was to be retiring my first pair of LunarEclipse +2 shoes. (Don’t judge me for keeping the timing tag on. I never seem to take them off after a run, usually not until the next one, so I had no need to remove it.)

“Can I push you to eight miles?” I asked Jennie.

She said maybe. So we kept on. At eight miles, I asked about, maybe, going 10.

She was still down to run, even though we were both tired. It was also starting to get warm. Just when I think it will finally be cool in my part of California, it seems to warm back up again.

We kept going, trying to stay in the shade. Then we turned back down one of the main streets in Mountain House and headed back to our cars. Our damage for the day was only 11 miles.

But it was five further than Jennie wanted to go initially. It was 11 more than I wanted to run that day in general. That’s a win.

Especially on a beautiful day.

Our time didn’t reflect any sort of success. For all the training we’ve done recently, it really doesn’t say how strong of runners we’ve become in a short time with increased workouts.

I thought about that on my way home: What defines a good run?

Is it distance? Is it time? Is it not having an leg pain? No cramps?

It’s different things for different people, that’s for sure.

But for me, on that day, it was just about getting out there and getting it done, despite fatigue and heat. It was also about propelling Jennie through and encouraging her to run “just one more mile” and “just two more miles” as we went.

The end result was a win for both of us. And, in many ways, a very good run.

 

Jan 21

Staying warm and being cautious

It’s been a little crazy here with the weather in the past couple days.

I’ve been relegated to the treadmill as of last night and this morning. I don’t mind running in the rain, usually. However, the wind is a little annoying and I woke up this morning with a killer headache.

I went out for a five-mile run around Mountain House on Wednesday with Jennie. And I was cold. Really cold. I’m used to running at night. I tend to warm up a little later than I want, usually at about the end of my shorter runs. But on Wednesday, my body didn’t seem to want to warm up. I got to mile four of the run and was still a little cold.

I was wearing a pair of long Nike tech running tights and my newish Lululemon Run: Your Heart Out long sleeve pullover. I had a short-sleeve Nike Dri-Fit shirt on underneath the long sleeve.

None of the gear had a thermal layer.

I thought a lot about this, especially since I knew there would be bad weather this weekend.

On Wednesday, I also noticed that, despite the headlamp I wear, sometimes people driving ridiculously fast through Mountain House don’t see us. I saw lights before I saw the car on one intersection, but I knew to slow down. We had the right of way in the cross walk, but that never means I should trust that a car will stop.

In many cases they don’t.

So I ventured to my local Fleet Feet store in Stockton with some goals in mind: I needed better layering for the cold and I needed to find something to make me more visible to cars, other people, etc.

The worker at the store directed me to some standard Nike pants, but the first thing he grabbed was a pair of Mizuno Breath Thermo tights. I was looking around a little more. The store had all jackets on sale for the rain, but I have a couple nice running jackets for rainy conditions.

I came across a beautiful purple Nike pullover with a weave design on it. The worker came over and told me that was an excellent choice, especially considering the Nike pullover was made of wool. Wool is a natural insulator. It’s incredibly thin, but really warm. I’m wearing it right now as I type this, if only because it is really, really comfortable.

I bought a size medium, which will be great for runs because I like my clothes skin tight as to not get in my way.

Plus, did I mention it’s gorgeous? The purple is beautiful.

Here are product screen shots from online retailers. I wore the pants on my treadmill run this morning because my legs were feeling a little fatigued. The Mizuno Breath Thermo material responds to sweat (does that sound gross? Maybe a little?) and warm in return. By the end of my five-mile run my legs were feeling rather toasty.

I think these will be a nice combination when I run a trail 10K next week in Fremont. I’m hoping, though, that I get an outdoor run or two next week in Mountain House as well.

So warmth was taken care of. I nearly forgot about the safety aspect of my visit until I saw a gift basket behind the worker who was cashing me out. In it was a pair of Brooks Nightlife Arm and Leg Bands.

I hate that when people take pictures of florescent items, they always seem to leave a little something to be desired. These bands are bright. The reflective tape is awesome. I’m really looking forward to trying them out.

As I was trying to finish the one purchase, the worker asked me if I’d seen the flashing strobe lights they had for runners to. I hadn’t. He brought one over. For $7 it was a steal, so I picked one of those up too.

The regular lighted mode is really bright. But the strobes will make people notice us more as we run. I shot a quick video of the strobe types, which didn’t exactly show up very well, but you get the idea. (And I apologize for the background sound, I was watching an episode of Cheers on Netflix. Don’t ask me why, I just decided to turn it on.)

So now I’m cold weather and safety ready. I’m excited for more bad weather runs, just not the wind-prone type.

Nov 6

800

The clocks moved forward at 2 a.m. this morning, which meant that I got an extra hour of sleep before heading out for my long run today. That was nice, but I was also tossing and turning and waiting for my alarm to go off, thinking, maybe, I slept through it.

I grabbed my gear and got ready. Jennie sent me a text at about 6:20 a.m. asking if she could borrow a water bottle. No problem. I brought a refill bottle with me for part of our run. This was the view that greeted me in Mountain House from Central Community Park, the beginning of all of our long runs.

We started out right after 7 a.m. The bathrooms were even open, which is always good. We headed toward the still in-progress village battling the cold and somewhat wet conditions.

The goal? Well, we didn’t really have one. I think both of us would like a second shot at 20 miles. But, unfortunately, we both were battling this run early on. Jennie said her shin hurt. My right Achilles was sore. We decided half way through we’d likely only hit 10 today.

I say “only” because last week I ran my longest run of my life at 20 miles.

We are usually warmed up by mile three. Not this morning. We were slogging. In retrospect, we probably weren’t full recovered.

Worst, we were inconsistent:

I noted, though, before getting into bed that my dailymile was at 790.

That’s part of what propelled me to want to do 10. I’m pretty sure I said before leaving the house this morning: “Even if Jennie decides she wants to quit at mile 6, I’m going 10.” Of course Jennie doesn’t quit. She’s good like that. She motivates me. That makes her the perfect running mate for the California International Marathon.

So we kept pushing. And pushing. And finally, we were done.

And it never rained once.

It looked threatening, but it wasn’t. In fact, it wasn’t even as cold as we thought. I wore my new Mizuno running vest and a Nike long-sleeve Miler top and ended up shedding down my my Dri-Fit t-shirt at our 7-mile stop-at-my-car-and-get-more-Gatorade stop.

The beauty of our 10-mile runs is that the first six miles tend to be consistent. Then I changed it up because Gertrude the Garmin lets me do that. (I’m going to hold off posting about how I have a request in to Garmin to have the battery looked at, mostly because I want to see how this plays out and I’m deeply concerned with a half marathon and a marathon coming up that no good can come of me sending the 405CX in this close to the marathon. That said, the battery is dying at nearly five hours. No good for a first-time marathoner who runs 11-minute averages.)

Sorry about the aside. I’m having a little bit of an issue with the Garmin issue.

So our last four miles are kind of sporadic. We run just to run. I do this as a mental trick. I can’t give up if I don’t know where I am going, right?

Works for me.

So Jennie and I pushed. We finally got to 10. And, to be fair, this 10 was a lot easier than I’m used to. Why? Could it be last week’s 20-mile jaunt? Perhaps. Even with difficultly, which we had, it was easier than our usual 10-mile runs.

And I hit 800.

I have the dailymile tag on my blog to prove it:

I did a little dance. I had a moment. And I spent the day celebrating, like someone who has literally ran twice the distance she did last year should do.

My mom asked if I wanted to go see a movie. She came to Tracy and we saw the new Harold and Kumar movie (the duo I later referred to as the “Cheech and Chong” of my generation).

Oh, and there were blended margaritas:

That’s my husband’s hairy arm using the blender that literally hasn’t been out of the box since we lived on our rental. That’s more than a year. We really need to party more.

Plus, I finally got around to making stir fry with the vegetables I picked up from the health fair at work the other day. Best part? I have leftovers for tomorrow.

And, yes, it was delicious.

So I’m at 800. I’m not sure about getting to 1,000. I’d like to try, but that’s 200 miles in two months. Can I do it? Sure. I’ve been averaging 100+ for the past two months.

But the marathon is on Dec. 4. And that’s 26.2 if I make it. (Let’s be real, there’s a chance I could completely balk, I know this, even when people tell me I can do it.)

I have 6-7 on schedule for tomorrow. If I feel good enough I’ll do 8. And then 6 on Wednesday. I have a day schedule on Friday, so I can either run 10 in the morning or in the evening. We’ll see.

Jennie wants to try for 20 on Sunday. I’m chaperoning my students to a journalism conference on Saturday. Hopefully I’m not too tired to conquer 20.

So, my remaining goals this year: Get to 1,000 and run that marathon.

Nov 5

Ready to fall back

We turn the clocks back at 2 a.m. tonight.

This is good on many levels for me.

The class I teach at the local community college begins at 8 a.m. That means I have to be out the door by 7 a.m. to get there early enough to open the door and get the projector going. I’m usually sitting behind my teaching podium by 7:45. My students start showing up shortly after.

The last two weeks my drive has been ridiculous. I leave home when it’s dark. I come home when it’s dark.

It’s no wonder I have been so tired lately. I seem to basically be working all day.

At least now I leave when it’s light out again.

Technically I do work all day, at least from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days. Some days I get off at 7 p.m. I come back to Tracy and swim on those days.

Other days I get home at 8:30 p.m. and go right to the treadmill. Sometimes I don’t even eat.

Friday marked the beginning of fewer Friday late shifts for me. The regular high school football season is over. That also means I say goodbye to my mid-day runs. I ran eight miles in between jobs yesterday.

And when I hopped off the treadmill, I found these in my mailbox:

Score! I’ve been a Runner’s World subscriber for about six months now. I recently picked up a subscription to Running Times. They sent me both the October and the December issue as a new subscriber.

Can I say I’m loving both? I am.

Tonight 7 p.m. seems much later than usual. Tomorrow it will be 6 p.m.

I’m anticipating a long run tomorrow. (At least 10, maybe I’ll get higher, that would be nice.)

So I’m staying at home. It’s raining outside. And I’m ready to fall back right about now.

At least I get an extra hour of sleep tonight.

Oh, and we finally lit a fire in our fireplace.

We’ve lived here for more than a year. It’s about time.

A cozy fire and a running magazine? My idea of a good Saturday night.

Don’t forget to set those clocks back.

 

Nov 2

‘Tis the season to be sick

One of my friends has a bad cold right now. She sounds miserable. I started thinking about that a couple days ago when I noticed a lot of people around me sneezing, coughing and generally in a “coming down with something” mode.

Well, darn.

It’s just that time of the year. Everyone is getting sick.

Unfortunately with only a little more than four weeks left to train for the California International Marathon, I don’t really have time to be sick. But I’m apparently making myself more susceptible to illness.

I’m running outside more. I’m running longer distances temperatures cold enough to make my lungs burn during the first part of my run. I’m also swimming. That means at some point I’m getting out of a pool dripping wet in the chilly California Central Valley cold. I started to feel as if I was getting a sore throat the other day and panicked.

I can’t get sick. Not now.

So today my full-time job hosted a health fair. There was glucose and blood pressure screening. I passed on that. And they were giving flu shots.

Truth be told, I am petrified of needles. I hate to look at them. I hate the thought of one piercing my skin. I get a little white and have been known to pass out. So I asked one of my friends to come with me. She didn’t so much old my hand as distract me.

And I got a flu shot, the person administering it poked my shoulder with ninja-like precision.

Even better, I didn’t have a reaction to it. That’s uncommon. This is only the second flu shot I’ve had where I haven’t broken out in hives or looked like I had a quick attack of the mumps. That was good too, since I had a lot of work to do today.

The health fair even had fruits and vegetables to give away. So I grabbed some. I think I’ll make a nice stir fry tomorrow out of the haul, which is at the top of this post.

I don’t know if the flu shot will prevent the flu. But I’m hopeful. That said, I’m still investing in hand sanitizer and staying away from coughing and sneezing people.

Better safe than sorry, right?

Oct 8

What lies beneath

I love the cold. The seasons of fall and winter are my favorite times of the year. The leaves start to change. People start to decorate for the holidays. And my runs get better, if only because it’s no longer scorching hot. I love wearing longer-sleeved shirts and venturing out in the crisp morning.

With a cold snap also typically comes rain.

We got a little in the area this week. It came during a recovery week and I was spending more time on the treadmill anyway. But I know soon I’ll have to run outside in damp, wet and cold conditions. And that always worries me a little.

I don’t mind running the rain. I’ve done it before. I’ve learned that sometimes it’s better to wear my contacts out instead of my glasses (fog, water drops and basic annoyance are the reasons) and make sure I bring a towel if for the car ride home if I’m in Mountain House or racing.

I mind the hidden mud. I’ll explain.

The picture at the top of this post is from the college campus I work on. It’s a puddle. It just looks like a puddle. But it’s also a mud puddle. It doesn’t look like a mud puddle. Not at all.

During the first rains of the year this sort of thing happens a lot. I’ll be out running and suddenly come across a puddle that just looks like a puddle. Every now and then, there’s actually mud underneath.

The mud can take an ankle out. It can cause a runner (or anyone for that matter) to slip and maybe even break an arm. This happened to me during a 10-mile run earlier this year.

I was running through a puddle and slid pretty good on the street. I didn’t hurt myself too bad. I had some scratches. One of my fingers was a little beat up as well. But, for the most part, I was OK. It caused me to think twice about running outside for some time. I switched up my training to the treadmill during the wet season.

That’s not really an option as I prepare for the marathon I’m hoping to run on Dec. 4. I need to run outside.

So the headlamp will come out at nights and I’ll likely slow down, despite feeling good on my cool morning runs, just to prevent slipping and sliding across nasty mud puddles.