Week 6, Day 1 - I Ran Outside in the Rain!

Wow! Such a good run today but the day didn't start out looking so good. In fact it had been a rather inauspicious start to the running week. I was pretty disappointed to only get in three runs last week so I wanted to make sure I ran today. I headed out to the gym this morning but got there only to find out that the air-con was broken. The place was like a sauna and I just couldn't handle running there; I was sweating as soon as I walked through the door! I reluctantly headed home and pondered what to do next. In the end I arranged to run outside tonight with Mr JRB. I spent the whole day itching to get out and run but then as five o'clock approached it started clouding over... uh-oh.

It was touch and go for a couple of minutes as to whether we went out but luckily we made the right decision. We set out towards the town centre planning to run West along the canal. It started to rain. I can't remember the last time I actually got rained on. I'm always very careful about taking out an umbrella with me but I'm guessing running with an umbrella just isn't going to work!! By the time we got to the town centre it was raining hard. We ducked into a covered car-park and once we hit the other side it was pouring. We stopped and looked at each other and Mr JRB asked if I was sure I really wanted to do this. There was no question at this point - I wasn't going home without running :-)

I changed my plan and we ran East along the canal. I ran the first 9 minutes at a 12.18 min/mile pace which was great. I was worried about setting out too hard like I did the other day so this was good timing. I'm now on the run 9, walk 2 week but it really didn't feel any harder than last week. By the second running segment I was soaked through and had water dripping off my nose and collecting in my eyelashes. It felt great though! I even managed to start running again straight away after we climbed a set of stairs up a bridge. I slightly messed up the timing of the section in the middle but managed to recover ok. I dodged some huge puddles which would have been great to drive though had I been in the car.

Towards the start of the final running segment we hit a slight upward section which I got through fine before we crossed over a railway bridge and entered the racecourse. This was a good part because it was slightly downhill at the start and as the end was in sight I pushed myself harder. It was also fun to run past all the people driving to the gym because I knew they'd be impressed that we were out running in the rain. How hardcore :-) I was really finding it hard by the time we passed the green and was glad to hit 30 minutes and stop. Great result, though not quite a PB... an outdoors PB anyway :-) I'm so proud to have actually run outside in the rain. I feel like a proper runner tonight rather than a fair-weather (treadmill) runner!

Stats -
Total Distance - 3.84 km / 2.39 miles
Avg Speed - 7.68 kph/ 4.77 mph
Min/Mile Pace - 12.57
Hours so far this week - 0:30
Miles so far this week - 2.39