WF3, and Dolly Run

First on last weekend's FIT run.... it was ok.... I'm still not totally convinced about this whole group thing. The Yellows and Reds were to run the same route, and the Reds started just a few short minutes before the Yellows. As a result, when we started, we were almost instantly all jammed together on this congested path. I was super annoyed. (I'm pretty pissed off at the universe in general on most mornings, but I feel like there were some real issues in play here.) First of all, the Reds needed to be running single file on the right side of the path. The path is only wide enough for 3 total, and that includes both directions, so you should never run more than 2 abreast anyways. That way the faster Yellows could have been passing on their left, and still left some room open for the poor unfortunate souls who were trying to go the opposite way. When this wasn't the way things went, however, I felt like it was totally unnecessary behavior on the part of several Yellows to actually run off-path on the left to try to get around the pile-up. There were trees there, for crying out loud, so they'd jump off, run a few feet, then jump back in in front of some poor sap, then do the whole thing again. Really dangerous. Oh, and just in general, it would be really helpful if people would put their conversations on hold for the first half mile of the run so some of these problems could be more easily alleviated. I'm just sayin'...

Anyways, when we got to the first intersection, most of the Yellows, including me, took the opportunity to jump around the Reds, and then we were running freely. I found myself about 5th from the "leader". Is this what it is like to be near the front of a race??? I'm not sure it is my favorite... near the front we were all running splits in the 8's. I realized that I was going out too fast, and made an effort to rein it in, but then I ran into a situation where I was the only one around. The fasties had all gone on, and the people who were going at a proper speed were way behind. This sucked for 2 reasons: I love to chase people, and run better when I'm doing it, and I don't really know the routes, so I didn't know where the hell I was going. Ugh!! I'm thinking I should print up a little map of this week's route, if it is posted in time, and use some tape to "laminate" it, and I could stick it into my wrist sweat band, because apparently, even though the point of group runs is to run with a group, I'm never gonna get to do that... (Now I'm just being bitter. I keep trying to keep an open mind and tell myself that it'll settle down and get better, but each week of same suckiness makes that harder.)

Anyways, this morning I went for my scheduled run. Like an idiot, I thought the outer bands of Hurricane Dolly had passed through yesterday, but when I stepped out into the humid morning, I noticed a cloud on the horizon. That bugger moved *fast*. Before I had run half a mile, the clouds were over me and the rain started falling. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I turned around and ran about a quarter of a mile back to a little shelter in a local park, and just stood there for a minute or two. And standing felt so.good. Let me tell you. After that, I could hardly make myself run again. I've been really kind of tired and worn down feeling this week, and once I realized that the rain was from a hurricane band and would move through, so I decided to run in it, it took everything I had to overcome my lack of inertia and start moving again. Everything. Anyways, that feeling that the air was resisting me persisted for 2 miles as I ran in the rain. Grr. This tired thing - first I thought it was left over sick from last week. Then I thought maybe I'm not eating enough, so I started eating more. Now I don't know what I think, but I want it to freaking stop. That is all.