Woke up this morning at 5 am and fell back to sleep till nearly 8 am.  Raining, cold, windy outside.  No reason to bound out of bed, that's for certain.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do today for my COVID-19 entry.  I had proclaimed a 10K as my intention but in standard fashion for myself, I questioned my abilities and desires.  

I messaged and texted with 4 different friends this morning to catch up and wait out the mist and rain that was supposed to stop around 10 am.  It did and I got myself ready, still not ready to commit to a distance or pace or goal.  I'll just putz along for a few miles and see what it feels like, I said in my head.  I severely overdressed and had to drop my jacket and wind-pants by a tree along the path before I even hit mile 1.  I had really thin compression tights under my wind-pants, luckily.  Once I wasn't so blasted hot and sweaty, the run felt a lot better.  It's 35F out and crossing over from winter layers to spring layers takes practice.  I need a lot more practice. 😁

My local bike path was DESERTED.  Not a soul the entire time I was out there.  Social distancing was not a problem. I was thrilled that the path had melted down after the 2.5 mile mark where it turns east to Hartwick Pines State Park.  The first 2.5 miles are kept cleared by the city all winter and that is such a great thing. 

At the turn around I walked a little and thought, meh, might as well work on my cadence and get the pace rolling a bit better.  I was surprised at how good it felt to get moving faster.  Kept an eye on my heart rate and didn't feel too bad.  I had to stop and grab my jacket and pants on the way back and carrying wind pants while running with a jacket tied around my waist wasn't fantastic.  Live and learn.  I rounded the corner onto my street with 0.3 to go and then it got tougher.  Pulled it off in the end and kept my pace where I wanted.  My pace used to make me feel like I was never good enough.  I'm out there, I'm trying hard, I put a lot into my running, and I'm totally good enough.  I've definitely run faster in my life but that was then and this is now.  

The face of my watch made me laugh at the end... ELITE status.  LOL!  First time I've ever seen that in my life.  🤣