on new beginnings

OK, that is a little dramatic, but I am getting moving.

Per last Friday's little psycho drama (its a bigger deal in my head than I typed out), I started getting my butt in shape Monday.

I forgot to weigh myself, but Princess Charming and I got up early to start week 2 of Insanity (more on that later this week) - Monday was Cardio Power and Resistance. The morning after that was a whirlwind of showers, a trip to the doctors, walking the dog, packing my lunch and getting the train in 83 minutes from the Stop button on the DVD to getting on the train). When I got to work, I dusted off my online WeightWatchers account (WW, you should thank me for all these years of $16.95/month!). I know the drill. I actually eat pretty well outside my dessert habit - especially in emotional eating moments - really my issue is I just eat too much (well, I did at some point. My weight has been stable for 1+ yr so I guess now I eat too much to lose weight?). And, well, the emotional eating habit! hah.

Then when I got home, thunderstorms were rolling in. Sort of. There was thunder, but no rain. Then rain, but no thunder. Repeat. This nixed the dog park, and left me on the couch (see cake incident). Around 8, it stopped raining, and I took the Best Bladder in the World Dog (over 12 hours folks!) out to pee and for a run, thinking we'd do 2 miles and then I'd drop him off while I did 2 more. We did half a mile. Around the 1/10 mark, the wind picked up, and my fearless wonderdog started giving me the look of "Are you Freaking kidding me??" so we swung around the block. I dropped him off and headed out.

Two blocks later, the skies opened and I headed back. This is a terrible idea.
I walked in to a VERY excited dog - sheshomealreadywhereismyboneiwassoworriedwhereismyboneshellgivemepeanutbutter!
Then it stopped raining. So I went back out (after giving the dog more peanut butter).

3.25 miles to go.
Since at this point it was about 8:30, I decided to take my stand-by route since I know lighting/turns/traffic well and run it a lot with the dog in the winter (aka the cold dark mornings and evenings).

Around the 1/2 mile mark, drizzle. Hm. OK. Can Garmins get wet?
Now this is a funny question, seeing as I've had my Garmin since Christmas of 2007 - so 2 years and at least 1000 miles of outside running. I've never run with it in the rain. See, I'm kind of a pussy about training. Its hot. Its cold. Its humid. Its wet.
Can you imagine the conversation I had in my head to stay out at this point? It was along the lines of
"Dammit this is bullshit you should go home"
"What? Today is Day 1 of a freaking 10 week half marathon program. 10 weeks you lazy ass who didn't pick a longer program. Don't screw this up Miss "I'm going to get in shape and break 2 hours again"!"
"Are you freaking serious?"
"YES. Would you miss rugby practice for this?"
"Well, no, but maybeImeanI'mnotexactly22anymoreandrunningaroundin45degreerainfor2hoursonafieldwithnograsskindablows "
"Shut up, its July not October and you know you'd go and hell just pretend its a game. This isn't bad."
"OK this wouldn't totally suck for a game since its not cold."
"See! Keep running"
"Ugh. At least we're not going to scrum 103842 times in the next 20 minutes."

And so by now I'm around the 1.6 mile mark, or the turn around point, also known as the I can stop talking to myself (in my head, thank goodness) about what a wimp I am being. Keep in mind I've run most of the last mile with my wrist rolled up in my now soaked sleeve - since it changed from drizzle to pouring - and I am sure the entire neighborhood thinks I am nuts (I may or may not have tested holding my watch in my shorts and decided it was way uncomfortable).

And now it stops raining.
Good, right?
Sure.

Except now I am running home in a soaked tee shirt (tech tee, thankfully), semi-squishy shoes, and really floppy wet hair, since I opted against the hat and also neglected to being a hair tie (thinking my headband + short hair would be ok sweaty/wet, duh).
This aggravated me more than it should have.

Until I realized it was dark. Like ominous dark. The kind of dark you get when a thundercloud that is vaguely brown rolls overhead. Now, for the new Jersey kid in me, this is no problem. For the person who lived in Illinois for two summers including one where a steel plant 5 miles from my apartment met its demise via tornado, this is an issue. Coupled with my bizarre, sudden fear of a dog darting from around a dark corner (no idea why I decided to be paranoid about this tonight) I was almost having heart palpitations for the last mile.

I got home and the sky opened up.
My dog again brought me the bone, then promptly passed out cold at my feet - I imagine he was pacing in stress the entire time I was gone (not to mention the hour + of thunder stress before our walk) since a half mile run isn't exactly his normal required activity.

Overall, 4.14 miles in about 40 minutes. Not too bad.

Oh, and Garmin 205s are water resistant. No need to look crazy next time (or use that as an excuse).