Wicked Wind

I just got back from another little jaunt on the OC&E Trail, and it was BRUTAL!!! I haven't gone for a run for over a week...the day I last posted was the last day I ran, and that was a really short (2.5 mile) run. I haven't been running consistently since before Christmas, so I haven't gotten in very good shape...and today I found out just what being lazy will do for your conditioning.

The weather in Klamath has been pretty miserable for the last week. We've had snow, rain, temperatures in the 20s, rain, grey skies...it's best described as BLAH! If you've read any of my prior posts you can gather that I look for any excuse not to run...basketball games, practices, missionary discussions with Ed, wind, cold, heat, church, too late, too early, work...the list is endless. I didn't go Friday because Doug had a game, didn't go Saturday because it was cold, didn't go yesterday because of church and I had a killer headache, and wasn't gonna go today because the weather is nasty. But when I got up this morning, I knew that if I didn't run I probably wouldn't run again until March, and even though I'm not in good shape I'm in better condition than I was in October prior to running. It's easier to stay in some kind of decent condition than it is to get there from scratch, so that motivated me to get out of the house and go.

So how did the run go? Right now the temperature in KFalls is 34, and I've been home for over an hour. The wind is starting to die down, but we have gusts that are still reaching 25 mph. The sun is hidden behind a thick layer of clouds...no one in their right mind is on the bike path. I started out going into the wind, which was blowing directly from the east (the OC&E Trail at this point runs directly east and west). I knew that since I'm not in the best condition, I'd never make it back to my truck if I went the directon I normally go...I needed the wind at my back on the return trip. I planned on going out 1.5 and turning around, but almost died just short of the halfway point and wound up walking the last 50 yards to the mile marker. I don't like being a quitter, so decided that I would go 50 yards PAST the marker before I started back to make up for walking...and wound up walking half a mile past it instead. I felt foolish walking, but couldn't force myself to run into the wind anymore. The run back was pretty nice...2 miles of flats with a steady 20 mph breeze at your back lets you feel pretty good about running!

I ran into Ron Smith about 3/4 mile from my truck, and stopped to talk to him for at least 30 minutes. He is planning on giving up his head coaching job after this season...mainly because it's not fun to deal with the idiot AD at Henley (see my post on Northly News). Smith talked about Stephanie quite a bit, and told me to tell her "Hi"...so if you read this Steph, Smith says he'll really miss coaching you this year. He also asked about the rest of the North brood, so other than Tom (who was too lazy to run and played baseball instead of doing track) he wishes you all well. He mentioned that he thinks Tim Cleland probably won't make it through the baseball season this year...and told me that he'll be trying to recruit Doug if something goes wrong with baseball.

Since I managed to hit the trail again, maybe this can be a starting point for a little consistency. I think I need to look for reason TO run, instead of looking for reasons NOT to run. If Laurie or Tom were here I could use them to motivate me...but since Laurie's stuck in Eugene, and Tom is in Happy Valley I'll have to depend on their blogs.

We'll see how I do the rest of the week. Doug has a game tomorrow night, Ed and the missionaries are coming for dinner Wednesday, I have no excuse yet for Thursday, Doug has a game in Phoenix Friday, we're going to Eugene Saturday, McMinnville on Sunday..............

Excuses, excuses, excuses!!!!

Well sports fans here it is again....Friday! And guess what...I haven't run since LAST Friday! That's just freaking great! A whole week of getting out of shape... sitting on my backside getting fatter and fatter. 6 full days of making up excuses why I couldn't go for a run. Here's the list I used this week by day: Saturday: I ran 6.5 last night, so I can't run today because I hurt too much...Sunday: I'm not supposed to run on Sunday because it's the Sabbath and I might want to read scriptures...Monday: It's too dark, and there's not time to run before we have to pick Doug up...Tuesday: Doug's basketball game got in the way...Wednesday: The missionaries came at 6:30 and stayed too long...Thursday: I'll stay home tonight and go for a longer run tomorrow to make up for it....Friday: ?? I haven't come up with one for tonight, but I'm sure I'll think of a good one.

All of the excuses are good ones...they're all legit...aren't they???

I read Laurie's blog a few minutes ago, and I have to admit that it motivates me to get off my butt and run....at least while I'm reading it. If I could only figure out how to take my computer with me while I'm driving home............