Bold Moves

I have found that your attitude is the general barometer for how you will feel about an event or something you experience. That’s why my tagline is “You can’t always choose your circumstances but you can always choose your attitude.” I am not saying that you should go through life ready to whip out your pom-pons; I’m just saying that if you look for the up-side you’ll be better off overall.
On a recent long run Saturday, I had to remind myself of this viewpoint. I checked the weather before heading out to the lake but the storm moved faster than expected. I planned to do 13 miles but I could see the dark clouds forming so I turned around at mile 6. It was a very humid morning which made the 63 degrees feel much warmer. By the time I reached mile 8 the storm appeared to be just on the other side of the lake; the temperature had dropped and the wind was beginning to pick up. The weather change at this point was a relief and I thought maybe I’d get lucky and run the last 4 in nice, cool temps. Around mile 9 the rain started to fall. Lightly at first but really huge drops. Not a problem, I kept running.
Then the gosh darn “hurricane” wind started! As if someone flipped a switch, the light rain turned into a torrential downpour and the mild wind turned into strong gusts that were blowing me off the trail! The wind was so strong that the rain was coming down in a sideways fashion….forcing me to run with my head down so that my visor protected my face from being pelted with the large drops of water. I actually started to laugh because I was soaked to the bone in a matter of seconds and I’m sure it was quite a sight for the campers to watch me trying to run through the storm!
And then the entire sky lit up with lightening and the deafening crack of thunder which seemed to happen all at once! I was coming up on the 2 miles to go mark and I knew I needed to find cover quickly. At that point on the trail there is a small picnic shelter so I ran up the hill with soggy, squishy shoes and hoped for the best.
I texted Hubby so he knew I was ok; he kept me posted on the storm. He said it would pass in a few minutes so I decided to wait it out. It was windy and cold. It felt like forever but I think I was at the shelter for about 15 minutes. The rain started to lighten up and the lightening was further away, so I set off down the trail again.
Know what happens when you hang out in a picnic shelter for 15 minutes getting cold after running 10 miles? Yep, my legs were akin to logs. Very stiff and very not interesting in running again! I pretty much hobbled through a painfully slow mile 11 and started to feel somewhat normal again for the final mile. A very eventful 12 miles for sure!
I could have gotten upset about it all but instead I decided to chalk it up as another interesting running experience. Afterall…I am able to run, and I got wet but not hurt. No harm done. I’m sure I’ll have more interesting experiences since I’ve signed up for the Runner’s World Run Streak, #RWRunStreak! Consistency with training has been my biggest struggle since my Dad passed 18 months ago so I thought this would be a good way to hold myself accountable. I also signed up to do an October full marathon to support Team World Vision; stay tuned to hear more about that!
As always, be sure to save money when ordering products from Yellowstone Nutra by using my discount code: dwilhelm10
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