This weekend was supposed to be 14 miles. That didn't happen, but I got 8. I'm sure I could have done the other 6 if I could think of a well-lit place to run at 2130 hours when it's pretty dark.

Plan A was to get up early yesterday and run in the morning, before a day of yardwork. I overslept and decided that I could run Sunday afternoon instead. So I helped yarbiedoll with the yardwork until it was too hot to be outside. At that point, I came in and did laundry and worked on going through a bucket of junk to sort, throw out, etc. Later, when it was cooler again, I went back outside for more work. We worked through Dirty Dancing at the theatre downtown, but that's OK. I can watch the DVD.

Plan B was to start running at about 1700 or 1800 hours this evening, after getting back from Kernersville, where we were visiting with a friend who is back home for a week. Lately, she's been in China, so our chances of catching up for a visit pretty much hinged on seeing her this afternoon. On the way to Kernersville, we had an epic fail of the right rear tire. Thankfully, yarbiedoll realized it soon after it happened and pulled off the interstate. Changing the tire made us about a half hour late for the meet-n-greet. We made up for it by staying later than we might have stayed otherwise. Plus, it was raining really hard and we were dry under the picnic shelter. Once there was a break in the rain, we came back home.

By the time we were back home and I could be on the street, it was about 1930 hours. And it was still raining. Hard. I had a call out to my coach, ccohoon, for advice, but he didn't answer the phone. By this point, I had given up on the idea of 14 miles. But I figured I could still get 8 or 10 in before it was too dark. Except for the hard rain. I knew I needed to run. So as soon as there was a break in the downpour, I put my super sexy running clothes on and hit the streets. It rained on me the entire time I was running.

As I mentioned, I got 8 miles. They were slow miles, but I feel real good about them. I'm not on schedule for the marathon, but I don't think I'm in bad shape at all. Running in the rain was lots of fun -- it really helped keep me cool. Running in the dark was not fun. At least I had a flashlight on my head.

So I'm thinking that next weekend will be 14 miles. And if I do 16 miles the next weekend, I'll be completely back on track for my training. That's actually very doable. I'll just have to be sure to make an effort not to oversleep for a morning run.