Listen to the music

I did my long run yesterday.  Figuring that I would be running on my own for nearly 3 hours, I decided to bring my iPod along to keep me company.  I think the weather is just messing with me now.  On Saturday, I was just supposed to run an easy 4 miles.  There were showers all day, and not just the typical misty Spring showers.  No, there were torrential downpours mixed in, too.  I decided to run while Ryan was getting his baseball coaching.  As I got ready to start, there was another downpour, so I elected to wait for that to pass.  When it was over, I looked to the west and there looked like there was a break, so I headed out.  No sooner had I gone about 200 yards, when I started getting rained on.  Luckily, it soon stopped and I was rain-free for the rest of my short run.  That's what I mean by messing with me.  Doesn't seem to matter what the weather looks like; whenever I start running, I need to get rained on just a bit.

Not so with yesterday.  I pretty much got rained on the entire time.  Because I was starting out in the rain, I decided to head off into the trails where there would be some tree cover.  And I hadn't run on the trails in awhile anyway.  Tracy's last comment before I headed out:  "Don't sprain your ankle."  So, of course, within the first 4 miles, I turned my left ankle twice, because of rocks.  But, I've done thatso many times in my life that I just figured I'd keep going and it would be fine.  It was a sloppy slog, but I had my iPod, water, Hammer Gel (more apple cinnamon), and Endurolytes.  I passed Matt Ellis and a friend of his twice on the trails.  We were going in opposite directions, but they definitely looked more like "real" runners than I felt; once upon a time, I think my stride was that effortless... or maybe not.

So, 19 miles (it was supposed to be 20, but I got 19 in without doubling back and I decided that was good enough, especially with all the elevation changes and puddle-jumping that I did) and multiple songs later, I was done.  Fortunately, the rain never got too heavy, so I never got too soaked or cold.  It was ironic that one of the first songs that came on my iPod was The Doobie Brothers, "Listen to the Music," and one of the last songs was BTO's, "Takin' Care of Business."  Sometimes, just listening to the voices inside my head (my ears in this case) works!