Come Hell or High Water

or wind or snow or brutal cold or irrepressible heat, I'll run.

Today, for example, it was wind. And hell it was windy. And up hill. Both ways. Really.

I'm not one to get myself worked up over a weather forecast. Especially, in Philadelphia where one snowflake constitutes a winter weather warning and a shortage of milk and bread in the stores. Today, however, the well-paid meteorologists on TV said that it was going to be windy. Very windy. 30mph wind gusts. All day.

They were right.

But just as I don't get worked up over the weather, I don't let it change my plans. So I set out this morning to run at Valley Forge with Abby, Ali and the Team in Training spring race group. For anyone who knows the loop at Valley Forge knows that the first hill sucks. It's long and steep. Today, with the aforementioned wind, it REALLY sucked. Calling the predicted 30mph gusts "gusts" was putting it nicely. Gusts come and go. These stayed the whole way up the hill. Coming from the side. And the front. And overhead. At times it seemed like we were running in a tornado, not just "regular" wind. Fun was not a word that I would use to describe it. But we did it. And the wind died down a bit. Then was resuscitated and came back to life (conveniently on another hill). Then died down. Then came back. Then....well, you get the point.

Despite it, we continued running. Even when it felt that we were going backwards or sideways or both. Abby and I turned around a little early after determining that our "nice easy trail run" yesterday (that was actually 7 miles and more like an adventure race- torn wet clothes, fording flooded paths and bruised battle scars included) meant we didn't need to do the full run today. We finished- relieved, wind-blown and content- about 9 miles in an average 8:44 pace. (It felt more like a 15 min/mile pace, so I'll chalk this up as an excellent resistance workout.)

Today was one of those instances where I am reminded why I run. You can't play golf in the snow. You can't play baseball in the rain and wind (ahem, 5th game of the 2008 World Series). You can't go skiing in the summer. You can't go swimming in a thunderstorm. But you can always run. I've run a marathon in a Nor'easter. I've done a triathlon in sweltering 95 degree Texas heat. I've done countless runs in the rain. I almost never don't run because of the weather. If I do, I feel that I've let the weather win. It's the same reason that I don't own a real winter coat because if I wear a winter coat, it's admitting that it's winter.

Running is so simple: left, right, repeat. It's why I like it so much. And why I keep running. Come hell or high water.