Splish splash

If it weren't for plans to run with Yumke today, I'm sure I would've punked out. I told him I might not go if it rained. But it wasn't raining when I checked in with him this morning. But there was still an 80-percent chance, the forecast said. Fine, we'll run faster, I said to Yumke. Only joking since I just don't run fast. That's fact. And I don't need to. Not yet. Perhaps never.

Yumke showed up at my place at the appointed time, having done some 4K already, and it still wasn't raining. Well, not buckets, just a few drops, and nothing that would deter me from going outside, now that he was here. Well, lace 'em up, here we go.

I traveled light today. No iPod, no cellphone (please see Yumke's blog for pix today).
Just a water bottle. (And a bus ticket tucked in my windbreaker in case it really started to pour. Is that being defeatist before starting? I'm a realist. I will quit if it rains.... but only in training though! If it rains on race day, well, I hope a higher power will help me through that.)

It wasn't a slow, plodding pace as I had intended... or rather, usually employ. Having a running buddy helped me continue for longer stretches than I'd normally go. When I go by myself, I find that I'll take more breaks. I don't know if I'm taking breaks out of tiredness or boredom or what. But having Yumke beside me kept me motivated, to push a little more.

And it's so nice to talk to someone, once in awhile.

Best thing about a city route: Stop lights. You have to stop. No choice. The law says you must. So grateful everytime we hit a red. Disappointed when they stayed green.

Through the adversity of rain, Yumke and I ran just over 9K together.. I did the next 1.5K by myself. It was less fun and with more rain. I'd do this route again -- a mix of city and waterfront -- and preferably in the sunshine. Though maybe not for much longer.. CMan and I are moving in six or seven weeks.

But guess what? I hit my goal to up the mileage by 10 percent!
Weekly tally: 18.15K, up 10 percent from prior week
Training-to-date: 50.85K

Went to strengthen my core, all soaking wet, though not sure how much of it was sweat and how much was rain. The guy beside me today had little balance. I was afraid he'd fall off his ball and into me. He never did, but it did mess with my concentration. Still, I shouldn't be hard on him -- I was once like that too.

Needless to say, I was famished by the end of class. It'd been four hours since my bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Called Yumke to meet up for lunch, as was the plan, and R came too. We headed for St. Lawrence Market, a place that means one thing for me when it comes to lunch: veal and eggplant sandwich (hopefully with mushrooms if they haven't run out). Then Yumke and R showed me the pasta stand. Okay, had to have that too. Freshmade linguine with spicy red/meat sauce. Split the sandwich with Yumke. Of course that was too much food. But we agreed: "best meal ever."

Walked home. Slowly. And mostly through the underground path system to avoid the rain, which was now beating down harder. That was a 4K detour. It's time for a nap.