In the continuing saga of the never-ending winter, NYC was hit by yet another Nor’easter. I don’t even keep up with the total inches anymore, but it was enough to put my night run at risk. At the office, I was grumpy all day and kept looking outside to see if the snow was sticking. (BTW – if you have not gathered, I am not normal.) At least in midtown, there was no accumulation on the streets or sidewalks. I held out hope on the way home as the sleet eased up considerably. That hope was dashed as I drew closer and closer to the park. The temps were pleasant (for winter) at 38*, but the streets were a mess. Slush, puddles, more slush, more puddles. At no point did I feel “hardcore” or anything like that during the run. My mood brightened when I connected with the team, but until then, I was more pissed off that the snow/sleet dared interfere with MY workout. Rational or not, that’s exactly how I felt.
As I approached the meet up spot I saw 10 or so team members plus our coach. Wisely, he pulled the plug on the planned workout (4 x 1 miles for hill repeats). It made sense. Tuesday night was pouring rain, but you could get traction to have a solid run. Tonight was a heal-to-toe workout at best. Except for our crew, I saw 5 runners the entire time. Miserable conditions. My shoes and the bottoms of my pants were soaked … and this was just from the 1.5 mile warm up from my apartment to the meeting spot.
Instead of sending us home, Coach suggested that if we wanted to stay we should do a slow run together. No breaking up into sub-groups based on speed. Therefore, we jogged around the outer loop as a group. It was nice. I actually had the chance to chat with a couple of folks. In some ways, I do feel like I belong with the team in that they are all very committed, friendly and encouraging. That said, every once in awhile, I’ll get a direct reminder of the talent level in the group and how far I have to go. I asked one guy running the Barcelona Marathon in a couple of weeks what was his goal time. He’s a really good guy and with great humility said, “It’s my first marathon, so I don’t really know what to expect. But anything sub-3:00 is the target … even 2:59:59 would be awesome.” I just laughed and shook my head. This guy is on the B team of the club. Seriously.
As we slopped along we approached my park entrance and exit. I could have kept rolling to bang out 9 miles, but thought that I tempted fate long enough and decided to bid adieu. I ran enough to feel like I didn’t waste my time, but not too much to heighten the risk of injury. Totals: 6 miles at 9:14 pace. Hopefully, the weather improves so that I can get the planned workout done on Saturday. (Before you ask … treadmill is not an option … too cheap for a gym membership. That’s why I started running in the park in the first place. 
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