Cool Running

Hey guys! Less than 48 hours from now we will be in the Northeast!! Yeah!! I've gotten a ton of great tips from you guys, and even booked lodging for every night except one. Usually we just show up and have a room for our first and last nights and have sheer adventure inbetween, but we learned on our trip to New England in 2001 that lodging isn't quite as abundant or inexpensive as out West. Last year we visited the Northern Midwest (Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, etc) and drove over 3,500 miles in 10 days. The year before we drove about 2,000 miles while we explored the Grand Canyon area. This year we won't be putting NEARLY as many miles on the rental car. Yippeee! (Warning - If you look at any of those old sites of ours you'll see 'Fat Rachel' - esp the Grand Canyon picks! I was 36 pounds heavier there, and probably about 20 pounds heavier in last year's Mt Rushmore pics.) We have the best vacation adventures! In the spring we try to go somewhere for 3-4 days to relax and get some sun, and in the fall we adventure out to see the country.

Our 80-degree days came to an end yesterday evening. Around 7:30, while I was starting to get ready for a run, we heard what sounded like heavy rain. Crazy!! We've had so little rain lately, less than an inch in all of October, and just some light sprinkles in November. It was one of those cold rains that only gets colder with each minute. Soooo, I decided to dust off the old treadmill, literally. I don't think I've used it since February or March. I HATE the treadmill, really I do. It's so monotonous and I never can go as quickly on it as on the pavement. But, I really wanted to run so I thought I'd give it a whirl. So, off I went, in the same place, over and over, for a half an hour. It was the longest run ever. I worked up more of a sweat in that half an hour than I have since August though. There just wasn't a cool evening breeze flowing through my bonus room last night!

Tonight I headed out for a 3 mile run after work. The temps tonight were in the low 50's, thanks to the cool front that moved through last night. I know the 50's really aren't cold at all, but it was a pretty big shock compared to the great temps we've had over the past two weeks. After the first mile I had warmed up enough that I didn't even feel the chill in the air. I ran at an even 9 minute pace and was welcomed home by Brent and Pippin, who've been curled up on the couch most of the evening.

Make sure you check out Buckeye Runner's great post about the half she ran in last weekend. We've all run in the rain (and enjoyed it sometimes) but how many of us can say we ran in the hail???

Take care!

Rachel

Exercise-
Wed - 2/3 mile am walk with Pips, 3.2 mile treadmill run
Thurs - 1 mile am walk with Pips, 3 mile run (and prob some yoga soon)