Cool For Cats

A few times during the year I find myself quoting the mantra"the difference between standing atop the podium at Nationals or standing next to it is the difference between getting out and runing on days you don't feel like it or not running"......yesterday was one such day.
After sweating profusely on Saturday and Sunday in 86 degree temps the mercury has dipped to 80 on Monday,66 Tuesday and a shock to the system 61 degrees yesterday,no wonder I dug out a long sleeve running shirt once I'd convinced myself to get out there and run.

Conditions were grey and overcast when I set off at 4.25pm on my 10 miler,once I'd committed to the run,muchless gotten out the door I was golden but in that short period of getting off the trolley and walking the two blocks to my front door there was some doubt in my mind if today was going to be my day....
Evidently I wasn't alone in that mindset as there was a considerable drop off in the number of runners out on the Schuylkill Banks and Kelly Dr from Tuesday when it was 5 degrees warmer,61 degrees is the coolest temperature I've ran in for a while.....though I'm sure a month from now on November 9th it'll be considerably cooler than 61 degrees!!

There are sections along both the banks and Kelly Dr where if you were so inclined you could reach out and touch the Schuylkill River.....why you would want to I don't know but I'm just trying to give you a visual of what it's like out on my route,the section just b4 the Columbia bridge that crosses the river is the lowest land point on the route and has been known to flood the path when the river has overflowed and forces runners to take the higher ground to avoid sliding through the slush that the Schuylkill deposits on the path.

Again as has become my won't on a 10 miler at 4.75 miles I began to count the runners who were heading back south along Kelly Dr b4 I turned at 5 miles,I counted 12 runners ahead of me and by the time I reached Lloyd Hall at mile 7 I'd caught and passed 8 of them w/ #9 and #10 just ahead of me,and I wasn't done w/ picking up my pace either going south along the Schuylkill Banks towards Amtrack bridge b4 JFK Blvd bridge and Market St bridge I heard footsteps closing in on me, quick glance over my left shoulder revealed a runner in a yellow tshirt drawing almost level w/ me......not today bud! race season maybe a few months off just yet but it's never too soon to get into the routine of knocking back wouldbe overtakers.

Unofficially I clocked a 1.33 for the run,I've been clocking 1.40's of late so either the cooler conditions helped me to a faster time,or the lure of a warm shower post run served as a motivator to speed up!
There's rain in the forecast for the next four days which means getting my last three runs in will be dicated by the weather gods......never a good thing in my experience!