Yesterday was a feel-good 8-miler, 8:47 avg. pace in the late afternoon.  I’m so useless if I wait to run, I end up doing all sorts of things to put if off even later, not because I don’t want to run per se, but procrastinating is such bad girl behavior, it’s its own form of entertainment.  I finally got myself out the door under the threat that it’d be dark if I didn’t get a move on and I’m too chicken to run in the dark by myself.

Today was originally supposed to be intervals, but the weather was not looking good when I checked last night, supposed to rain all day with a touch of wind, so by the time I went to bed, I figured I’d get an easy wet 6 in today and do the intervals Friday, when it would be sunny and still.

Usually in the mornings I need at least an hour to get out the door. I sit there with my cup of hazelnut coffee, read email, check out Huffington Post and CNN.com and put reality off as long as possible.  Even in the heat of summer, when I had to get out there really early to beat the rising temps, I’d always have my quiet hour beforehand.

This morning, after about 2 minutes with the coffee, I look out the window and notice it’s dark and all, but no rain yet.  I can see the trees aren’t moving either, so forget wind, there’s barely a breeze and it’s a perfect 47 degrees.  Wunderground.com says the pressure’s falling, but I figure I’ll take my chances, let’s get this thing over with.  So I throw on some capris, a longsleeve shirt, shoes, Garmin, grab keys and out I go for that interval session.

Ended up being an excellent workout!  7.25 miles total, with 6 x 1/2 mile, 2:00 recoveries.  It was cool relying on clock time and the markers because I could check once at the halfway point and see how I was doing (which was surprisingly consistent) instead of constantly chasing Garmin pace averages that are kind of right, but not exactly.  My average for the intervals was 7:17.  I’m pleased.  And it didn’t start raining until my last block home, so all in all, a perfect morning.

On the consumer front, I bought a couple things online yesterday.  Remember when I asked the UPS guy if I was the worst on the block as far as ordering stuff and he said I was second worst?  Since then, I haven’t ordered anything, not out of shame, but I finally had everything I needed, running gear-wise.

Well, we’ve had a lot of rain in the forecast and yeah, running in the rain can be lovely, but not when it’s a deluge or you’re warm and toasty inside…sometimes you’d rather reschedule the run instead and I want to minimize such thoughts as much as possible.  I already have a great jacket for bad weather, the Asics Storm Shelter, but it’s really too hot for 30s and above.

So I just ordered this goofy looking jacket, the Sugoi Hydrolite.  It reminds me of those transparent folding rain caps your Grandma used to wear, but it’s fancy techno-schmancy, has these holes that close up when water touches it, so it’s actually (drumroll, please) truly breathable and is good for temps in the 40s.  Plus, it’s still $100 everywhere else, so…bargain!  Free shipping, too.

Then I went over to Amazon and ordered Brain Training For Runners which comes highly recommended from some fellow forumites I respect, as well as Run Faster From The 5K To The Marathon, another recommend.  But that’s where life got complicated because I was suddenly in that precarious position…$3.97 away from free shipping, so of course I had to figure what else to buy which took me about an hour because I can never think of anything I want if it’s not on my mind.  Finally, I got a bundle of 14 bars of Dove.  Can’t go wrong with soap.

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