Weather Permitting

My "Y" membership has expired as of yesterday. That should be fine, right, since it's now May and the weather is going to kick ass? Well, sort of. I've got 50 days till gramma's half marathon (but who's counting, really). That means, I've got to kick it up a notch (or maybe a couple of notches), so I can run the race I want to run.

Today it was 60 degrees, cloudy, and windy as fuck. Well, not like hurricane windy, but much more than a gentle breeze. I set out to run 60 minutes (so about 7 miles). I ran down Selby, and turned onto Summit... KABOOM the wind smacked me from all directions. "Ugh...this is gonna be a long run", I thought.

It ended up being a pretty long (aka slightly boring) run. I made a new mix (cd) for a couple of friends before I ran, and took it with me to test it out. The mix wasn't as awesome as I thought... it needs some tweaking. Also, I realized how much weather plays into the success of a run.

The temperature today was great, maybe a little warm (for a run). The wind though, man, the wind was a pain in the ass. When I got to my halfway point, I turned around, excited for the wind to be at my back. It wasn't. It was more to my side, and at times to to my front. C'mon, give me a break, right?

A couple of years ago, the 7am temperature was 70ish for the Twin Cities Marathon start. I remember thinking that there were going to be a lot of injuries/fatalities, and was quite worried. I don't remember if anyone actually died, but the times were definitely slower than predicted (if the weather would have been milder).

So, I'm already reaching out to the weather gods and goddesses, asking them to see that June 19th is a nice mild day...not too cold, not too hot, not too windy, you know...something comparable to Eden.

I can't imagine training hard for a race, over a period of several months, and then having it go to hell because of the weather. I'm sure it happens all the time though. This is all very pessimistic however, so I need not spend too much time worrying/wondering. I need to continue to put in the miles, the carbohydrates, and the imagery. 50 days... or maybe it's 49. Whatever.