Because i'm mildly insane, I decided to head out this morning at 6am into the pouring rain, with the air temperature at 39 degrees, wind chill at around 30 (according to the weather channel) for a 20 miler. I used to think that people who adventured out like this were tough, but i'm not sure its as much being tough anymore as it is being insane. I was happy with the way it turned out though, although after about 12 miles, the rain soaked clothes I had on were not doing anything more than keeping me cold. I thought that it wouldn't be a good idea to take a layer off, because I only stand to get colder. I did NOT wear pants .. I had on my regular shorts, a base layer, a mid layer and my rain jacket. I put gloves on to keep my hands warm even though they got soaked, they still kept my hands warm... I also wore my running hat (not a knit hat), I find that it helps keep my head warm and keeps the rain out of my face.

I wasn't surprised that I was the only person out running this morning.. I didn't see one other person at any point along my course. This weather in the northeast right now is very unseasonable for October, so maybe its scared people away from the outdoors (or they're in the gym on a treadmill, blah!). The good part is, since I made it through today, it only stands to get easier from here. I wouldn't expect the Philly marathon to be too much colder than what I dealt with today. It wasn't even so much the cold that bugged me today, it was really the rain. It just never stopped. The funny part is that if I didn't move 85 miles south last fall, I would have been running in the snow today .. thats a wakeup call that winter is coming.

There were a few things I needed to focus on during my run, the first was keeping my pace, which I think I did pretty good on. The second was to stay hydrated .. its a weird sort of thing that when you run in the summertime or the heat, you don't think twice about having fluids, but I realize that you really do need as much fluids when its cold as you do when its warm. I still lose fluids and need to replenish them, so I took money and my water bottle with me today, which I think really helped... This run was good because it'll better prepare me for winter running and for spring training for the Ocean Drive marathon... thats never fun training (in January and February).

Unfortunately i'm struggling right now with some lower back/hip pain. Its been flaring up every now and again over the last 2 weeks causing me discomfort and radiating pain down both my legs, and this morning before I went out, it was bothering me. So how did I remedy it? I ran 20 miles on it ... yeah, thats good, smart move. Regardless, i'm not out of commission, but it is bothering me enough to be taking it easy, using ibuprofen and the heating pad in the hopes i'll be okay for tomorrow. I do think the cold and damp weather is what flared up my hip, which in turn flares up my back, which in turn sends the shooting pains down my legs .. its not fun. I can't imagine how bad i'm going to feel in about 10 or 15 years if I keep running like this (maybe i'll still be blogging by then, who knows).

So the plan for the day is to relax, I really have nothing big to do .. hopefully my back and hip will feel good enough to get 12 miles in tomorrow, but we'll have to see. I don't want to push it too much because that put me in the hospital 3 years ago when I decided to push it too hard ..

So for those marathoning this weekend, good luck! If you're marathoning in the northeast (with the snow, rain and cold) like in the Bay State Marathon (Massachusetts), or the Breakers (Amica) marathon in Rhode Island ... stay WARM!