Fail

Stuff I need to pay more attention to.

   Twice in the last week or so I have set out on runs. I bailed both times.
   The first instance, I began to run in what I thought at the time was a light rain. It turned out to be much heavier than I thought and, in fact, ended up blowing sideways. I was ill-prepared for this and began giving myself reasons to abort the run. My principal concern, I reasoned, was that my phone was strapped to my arm in a mesh holder and I thought that it might get wet and therefore destroyed. I'm not sure how real a fear this was but after awhile it became compelling. If nothing else, it became a nagging doubt.
   I have a hard time running while being dogged with nagging doubts and this caused me to cut the run short after slightly less than a kilometre. In my mind I reasoned that even a short run is better than no run at all. It was still difficult to accept this as anything other than a failure.
   In the second run, I once again misjudged the elements. There was no precipitation this time around but there was a biting cold. I simply neglected to check the temperature before heading out. I'd gotten a new pair of earwarmers for Christmas and was eager to give them a try. Well, they kept my ears warm but completely left the top of my bald head uncovered. I thought that as I warmed up so would my head but this did not happen. At some point things up there actually began to hurt and I thought to myself that thirty more minutes of running uncovered like that could possibly cause a frostbitten head. I tried to imagine what that might feel or look like and neither one was something I wanted to experience so, once again, I opted out.

A good idea--Adidas pays me to wear Nike anyway...

   All of this happened in conjunction with the festive season as well. This meant that not only was I missing the odd running day but I was also eating extra sweets and then only doing one kilometer runs in compensation. Just not a good feeling, all-round.
   It has been a learning experience, for sure. This is the first time in my life when I have felt compelled to run in winter weather. To date, the winter in these parts has been fairly mild and I've been getting away with it. It is now more like a true Canadian winter, however, and I need to adapt.
   In three days I'm running in a 5K race so I figure I have one more training run I want to get in before that. Hard to say what the weather might throw at me between now and then but, damn it, I'm going to be prepared the next time I head out!