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Rain, Rain Go Away

When you live in Colorado, you get used to the crazy weather. However, Coloradoans are not use to it raining all day for three days straight. We start to get a little stir crazy without a few hours of sunshine. So this weekend when I woke up to do my 16 miler, I was little bummed to find more clouds and more rain. I started the pre-run rituals of eating peanut butter oatmeal, drinking water and lots of stretching. Of course this Sunday we had Mother’s Day brunch plans at 10:30, which meant I needed to be home by at least 9:30…

Running buddy Dave met me at 7:00, and yes we were already running late. We drove over to Berkley Park a few miles from my house to try out a new trail (Clear Creek). I was very excited about the trail because it winds through the city I grew up in. We planned an 8 mile out and back to reach our 16 miles.

For those of you that don’t know, I am an i-pod addict when it comes to running. I always get nervous that I will sign up for a race that doesn’t allow i-pods by accident. For some reason today I didn’t need my i-pod. Granted Dave can hold a conversation for multiple hours, so it was like having my personal i-pod minus the singing. It definitely made me feel strong that I didn't need my i-pod to keep me distracted.

The rain started to come down so hard that I put my i-pod in a pocket before it died on me. To keep myself dry, I wore my Danskin pullover that Bobbi from NHerShoes reviewed a few months back. It was the perfect layer to keep me dry!








Our run started off easy. We both have a tendency to want to run our long runs too fast, so we agreed on a nice 9:30ish pace. Due to the inclimate weather, there were very few people out on the trail with us. I think we saw five people in 16 miles. At mile six, we took some shot blocks and water. Part of this run went through a wetlands preserve which was really neat. It was nice because the trail turned to gravel around that area giving our legs a much needed break from all the concrete pounding.

The entire run I was really nervous about the pain in my calf I had been experiencing all week. It definitely started to bother me towards the end of the run, and it didn’t help that Dave was also having pain in his left foot. We hobbled along for the last few miles, taking some more shot blocks at mile 12. What I didn’t remember was that the last mile back to the park was up and down hills the ENTIRE way. I couldn’t believe I didn’t notice this on the way out. I guess that’s the difference between what you remember at mile 1 and mile 16.


Our stats were:
16 miles/2:32/9:31AP


By the time we got back to the car, it was already 10:00. I had exactly 15 minutes to get ready including stretching and a shower. Not exactly ideal, but we made it brunch only a few minutes late. My family has promised to not schedule early events on long run days!

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