Doomed from the start.

I ran my 10 miler 9 miler yesterday and it was disastrous. Well, maybe disastrous is too strong a word, but it was a doomed run from the start.

I set myself up for failure on this run. I knew I was doing that, but I ran anyhow. Last minute, I decided to change my course and run along the creek path. This sent me running an out and back course with the out half heading EAST. Remember this. It’ll be a key factor.

The weather was bright and sunny. It was somewhere around 7°F. It felt much warmer, given our recent trend. I was seduced by this apparent heat wave. Most of my running clothing is black. Black soaks up the sun and heats up. I was running during a sunny time of the day. Therefore, I’ll be warmer. Excellent! Hey, here’s a brilliant idea, I should try out the new running jacket I just bought. A thin, light weight, water repellent Nike jacket I got for a steal at the REI Super Clearance sale. I should try it out. So I did.

The out part of the run we mostly uneventful. And as usual, I was getting warm. About the only smart thing I did was to bring three forms of head-ware: headband, hat, balaclava. So I switch the headband and I was good. I noticed some seriously bundled up people running opposite my direction. Bah! Fools…

Only I was the fool. I knew it from the start. And I was in denial. So I turned around a little short (hence my 9 mile run) and started running back heading WEST. Now, I was running into a westerly headwind that dropped everything down to a -10°F windchill. The balaclava quickly went on my head. But clothing choices were not the best and I froze on the way back. And it was a sucky run. I set myself up for failure. Doomed from the start.

DAWG had a great time, as usual…