sunday long run - turned short

My scheduled run today was 10 miles. I was so excited to get this one behind me; then I'd officially be into 'double digits'.

However, my propensity for procrastination took over at approximately 6.45 am when my alarm clock went off. I took one look outside at the crap on the ground... er, I mean new-fallen snow, launched my alarm clock across the room, rolled over and swiftly returned to my slumber. At 9am I was stirred from my sleep again, this time by the sound of freezing ice pellets slamming themselves against my window. It was at that time, that I made the incredibly difficult decision to NOT get out of bed to run 10 miles in the ice rain.

By 2pm the guilt was catching up to me, and so I phoned a local health club to see if I could run on their treadmill, even though I'm not a member. 'Oh, certainly!!' cried the excessively chipper voice on the other end of the phone. 'You can have a DAY pass for $10!!'

'OH!', said I, trying to mirror her enthusiasm. 'Ten dollars!! What time do you close?'

'4 o'clock', came the reply.

'Well I guess I better get my butt over there, so I can get my ten dollars worth of treadmill running in then, eh?'

Anyway, by the time I got my bag packed, drove across town, changed and found the treadmill (not before a first-class tour of the facility led by the Chipper Lady herself...you know, being a first time visitor and all. 'Look! We have El-LIP-tical Machines!! Look! There is a pool!! And you can sit in our hot tub after your run!!') it was 2.50pm. I had 10 miles to run in one hour and 10 minutes. There would be no sitting in the hot tub - unless this event could take place after 4pm with me naked, as I hadn't had the foresight to pack a bathing suit with my running wardrobe - duh.

My normal pace is about 9:00 min/mile. They say to run the Long Runs on Sunday about 1 min. - 1:30 min slower than your regular pace. I can't remember how exactly, but I did some math and realized that 10 miles was not going to happen. So I just went full on for the entire time, and ended up doing about 7.7 miles. When I got home I plugged those numbers into my favorite pace calculator and discovered I was pretty close to the suggested pace - about 0:49 seconds slower than my regular pace.

I would've stayed on a little longer to get to 8 miles, or maybe even 9, but the person that belonged to that excessively chipper voice? Yeah, she started losing her 'chipper-ness' around 3.45. With about 10 minutes to spare, she started walking by me, looking at me over her horned-rimmed glasses with one eye kinda bunched up. It was like she was saying to me, 'If you don't get off that treadmill and out of here, I'm going to take a crowbar to your kneecaps!'

I did my best to avoid eye contact with that lady and turned the treadmill off. I don't need anyone messing with my kneecaps right now.