Rain Makes the Grass Green

We had our first real Thunderstorm of the year last night. I real good downpour of rain as well. The yard sure needs it and the grass is actually now starting to turn green from its winter color of gray. This morning before work, it was raining hard and then suddenly it was hailing. Not large hail, about a but larger than pea size but it always worries me as I had my van outside and don't want it to have hail damage. Good News, no damage. I also had to make sure the downspouts on the house had their extensions secured. The first year I was in this house, I had a little water in the basement when we had a lot of rain and the downspouts were not attached. No worries yet again.

I did wonder if I would have to run in the rain after work though. During work, it rained quite a bit too. The ditches were like small rivers flowing. But by then end of the day, the rain had stopped and I got out there for 5 1/2 miles. I wanted to run faster than usual so I took off briskly. My garmin had less than 1 hour of battery life and I knew I wouldn't get far before it turned off automatically, so I used the regular Ironman watch I have. If I was to run faster, I wanted to know how fast. The problem with this way, is I don't know my pace or mile splits my garmin gives me. All I knew was that the course was 5 1/2 miles.

The average pace at the end of the run turned out to be 8:00 on the head. It was a good run as well. I wore a long sleeve shirt but should have worn a short sleeve. Sometimes I get that wrong.

I am planning on a long run this weekend but may do it a bit differently. I have done this before and it makes a long run sort of exciting, if there is such a thing. My plan is to run 20 miles on Saturday morning. I am going to run 7 miles at an easy pace to start off with but then I am going to time it right so I get the the start line of a local half marathon being run. The Badgerland Striders (The Milwaukee areas running club) is putting on a half marathon along the lake on a bike path. It is an out and back course but the price to join is only $13 on race day. You don't get a medal for finishing (no problems there) and no shirt, but you get to run with a bunch of nice runners and get some food afterwards. At least that is what the race advertises. I have run quite a few of their races and they put on a well organized race which are always fun. I am looking forward to it.

So the plan is to arrive near 7:00 and sign up and get my number. I will then leave at about 7:15 for a 7 mile 'warm up' at the easy pace (9:15 to 9:30 pace). That should get me back within 10 minutes o the 8:30 start time. Once the race starts, I will begin easy and then see what I have in the tanks. If I could average 8:30 pace for the race, that would be a good run for me. I don't consider it a real race (for me), if so, I would go out much faster and not do 7 miles before hand. But it will let me work on running with tired legs and let me run with all sorts of local runners. The food at the finish area is a bonus as well. You can't beat it for $13.