Hoka 10k 2018

Hoka 10k 2018

Saturday, February 21, 2015

When Running Brings Out The Crazy

Running has been bringing out a lot of inner crazy lately. About a week ago, I ran with three beautiful ladies (Jen, Stacey, Katie) in the middle of the day. A guy nearly ran us over then started yelling at us about breaking the law because we were running on the road. Don't let me forget to mention that running on the road is NOT illegal and that this guy was being a distracted driver. When I saw him, his face was down, looking towards the middle console in the car. Of course, in true Lisa nature, I started yelling at him about his jackassery. The d-bag had the nerve to turn around in someone's driveway and follow us! We told him we were going to call the cops on him and took a pic of his license plate. He yelled back saying he would call the cops on us! He was a true idiot. The rest was a blur but it ended up giving us some entertainment.
 
A couple of days later, my friends and I demonstrated our crazy by running in sub zero windchills for 7.5 or 15 miles. I know I've been running in the cold a lot the past 3 or so months but don't get the idea that I like it! Which leads me to my latest story of crazy...
 
I've been on the treadmill ALL WEEK. I really do prefer to run outside, but this week has been awful. After the race on Sunday, I'm over this snow and these temps. I knew that I would have to do my long run (18 miles this week) outside because there is absolutely no way I can run that far on a treadmill. I would have to be extremely desperate.
 
As usual, I messaged with my long run girls about our plan for the week. We had a plan...until someone checked the forecast. Temps looked great, but the snow precipitation percentage was AWFUL! 90+% from 5 a.m. until noon was the prediction at that time. We went through several potential scenarios and thought we came up with our final plan. Jackie and I were going to start at 5:30 a.m. and just deal with the snow until the YMCA opened at 7a.m. then finish on the treadmill. I know it could be a lot worse than snow but I REALLY did not want to deal with it.

As things progressed, I made a joke about waking up at midnight and running before the snow started. That actually got us to thinking...What if we ran after our jewelry party?! (Jackie's idea...she's the crazier one) Without hesitation, I said, "I would do it." Oh dear Lord, we are idiots.

Although there was some hesitation throughout the night, we decided to wear our running clothes to the party so we wouldn't change our minds at the last minute. The party ended, and we headed to the rec center in Westerville. There's a 6 miles loop of which I'm very familiar. I knew it was on city streets and sidewalks. I wanted to avoid the creepy wooded trails that late at night. We decided to run the loop 3 times to get in our 18. We had to deal with snowy sidewalks the first loop so we decided to run on the streets for the other loops. Running on Polaris Parkway, Cleveland Avenue and County Line Road sounds a little scary but we did single file when cars passed. Drivers were actually very nice about it and moved over for the most part. No honks so I'm assuming we didn't piss anyone off!

I forgot my Garmin and Jackie's watch is usually off by a quarter to half mile and approximately 10 seconds per mile. With that being said, I know we got progressively faster, which was the goal, and Jackie set her long run record! Emotions were high the last 3 miles. I, for whatever reason, started dry heaving and my legs were cramping up a little (our hydration froze so I probably needed water/Gatorade...it was also frickin' freezing so I'm sure my muscles were in shock). I almost started crying  the last mile! Not because of pain, I felt good considering the situation, but because we were about to finish 18 miles! I felt the same way I feel when I run the full marathons. Complete emotion towards the end.

I was never so glad to be finished. My only regret is that we didn't start 45 minutes later because we ended around 12:15 a.m. and Schneider's opens at 1 a.m.! Great job to my girl, Jackie. I can't believe we did it...wait, yes I can! I knew we would make that happen!
 
 

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