Running: Lift Us Up Where We Belong

OK, I admit it: I ridicule Northeast Ohioans who complain about the weather.

It’s not just any weather (to an extent, we’re entitled to some quips); it’s mostly snow in March. I can appreciate your need for sun, spring and no more snow, but when in the past twenty years has uninterrupted spring arrived with the vernal equinox?

Being a ridiculer isn’t something I’m proud of. I just don’t think anyone should really be surprised anymore. And among everything else in the world, weather is the one thing we just cannot control.

You can imagine my surprise (and shame) then when on Saturday I was not only queen ridiculer of the NEOhio unfaithful, but I was also a client.

It’s not the snow, the cold, the roads that have gotten to me this year; it’s the limitations for running in any given area. Run in Cleveland Heights: spend two hours walking back in chest-deep snow; run in University Heights: spend 45 minutes running through chest-deep puddles; run in Cleveland: fall into a sink hole and then get splashed by a passing car; run in Hudson or Stow: spend the whole time dodging angry cars who don’t want you running on the street.

None of it’s the end of the world, but I’d like to take a non-track run in which I spend more time focusing on my workout and less on worrying about my life.

Running on the street isn’t bad at all. In quiet neighborhoods. Because of my common schedule (run after work), I’m often running in rush-hour traffic in a younger neighborhood chock full of people willing to drive 50 mph down a 25 mph street.

And I’ve been just waiting to cross paths with the guy who hit me last year to see if he has any vengeance left in his system (and if he ever fixed the palm-dent I left on his hood).

What’s more is this weather makes my blogging kind of bland because each of my runs becomes just another 9:30-10:00/mile run for 30-60 minutes in one of three neighborhoods. Blah blah blah blah blah.

I’ll do another hour run tonight to the tune of mid-30s and sloshy stuff in my shoes. But now I have renewed motivation: on Monday I officially started my six-month training plan for the Akron Marathon on Sept. 27, 2008. Yippee!

How's that for a change of pace?

I’m still having trouble envisioning myself running over 26 miles (in a row), but that realization will come with the six months of training and, well, miles 1-25 at the race, eh? It’s nice to have goals again (which will also include the Cleveland Half and a late-summer Olympic tri) and I’ll post a 2008 race schedule later this week.