That Was Rather Nice

Me, I'm an anxious person.

School: stress
Unknown: stress
What kind of coffee to buy: stress

That's why I like routines and such so much. Less choice, less unknowns, less stress.

So I can save time to stress about other things.

Long runs for me have always been a source of anxiety the night before, if not the days before the run.

Today, though, was not going to be a long run. At least, no longer than some of my normal runs. So I didn't know why I was so stressed about it for the past couple of days.

Of course, not knowing why I was stressed made me more anxious and stressed.

And it was COLD!

This morning, as I worried about my legs and the run, I worried about the cold, too.

"Should I wear a hat? Gloves? What kind of pullover? What if I'm over/underdressed?"

At the last minute, I even left the water bottles I filled at the front desk, slipping back into the building to place them there.

I was stressed about that for the first 1/2 mile or so. What if I become dehydrated? What if they get thrown away?

Ridiculous.

After I stopped feeling as if my face and head would freeze off, though, it was a great run!

Hoping to meet another running buddy, History and I ran uptown via 9th Street and then over to the park off of 16th and up to Harvard Street. Our friend couldn't make it but we decided to run the loop that was for her anyway, in homage.

She did really well on the run, by the way. Well, the imaginary her did.

Over to Rock Creek Park trail, picking it up in the zoo and then down to Pennsylvania Avenue and back up the ramp there to 27th, then up to M and over to 23rd, where we ran up to Florida, then took that to Columbia and over to 16th. From there, we headed back downtown.

Today was a chatfest. It was interesting. Another set of things History and I have in common.

And the cold weather made the sky fabulous this morning. Great to see before the clouds and (snow!) roll in.

Ironwoman that she is, History ran off to finish her 22-miler. I walked to my apartment and ate some asperagus.

Tiny looked like she hadn't moved since I had left. But a mysterious grocery bag was across the room, putting paid to that front.

Dratted cat.

So glad I went. What was I so anxious about?

About 10.75 miles.