Adventures as a Public Nuisance

Okay. I'll fess up. I've been a slacker. Sure, I could cite the days of pouring, miserable rain and hectic scheduling but we all know those would just be excuses to help myself feel better about my five-day hiatus. As a girl who was born and raised in Washington state, you'd think I'd be less of a pansy about running in the rain, but no. Maybe if I had some water-proof gear... Running in squishy shoes and soggy socks isn't fun for anyone.

Even though the weekend weather forecast wasn't looking much dryer, I promised myself I would get back on track, rain or shine. Somehow that promise managed to slip my mind after one too many screw-drivers on Friday night (did I mention it was a long week?). It's no surprise then that I woke up this "morning" mildly dehydrated with a well-deserved hangover. Running was the last thing on my mind.

But after three hours, two Aleve, four big glasses of water and choking down a few scrambled eggs I had begun to feel slightly less nauseated. With the daylight hours ticking by and snow flakes starting to fall, I realized that "slightly less nauseated" was probably as good as it was going to get. So I stumbled into my running clothes and wandered half-halfheartedly into the snow.

Just a couple minutes into my run a creepy man started running up behind me. I gave him a few quick side glances and picked up my pace to avoid him, but he started running even faster to catch up with me. Turns out creepy guy was, in fact, my very own Big_Shoes who had apparently decided at the last minute to join me on my run. I have a feeling he was a bit worried about my mental/physical state and thought he should keep an eye on me. That was probably a good idea.

Ten or twelve minutes into the run I noticed I started to feel a bit ... funny. At first I wondered if I had stumbled on to some new kind of runner's high or something, but then it finally occurred to me that I wasn't high ... I was DRUNK! Yes, thats right, DE-RRUNK. In PUHB-LIK. I'm no doctor, but my best explanation would be that the increase in blood pressure probably caused a quick and sudden circulation of the small amount of alcohol that was left in my body. Luckily, there wasn't much left in my system so after slowing to a walk for a few minutes the feeling past and we were able to keep running.

Even after I redeemed myself, it wasn't the best run in the world. It was snowing pretty good and our clothes were soaked. I definitely did not get in 28 minutes of consecutive running that the C25K program requires, but I did accomplish much more than sitting in the dark on my couch all day, which is my usual strategy nursing a hangover. And it inspired me to get back on track and give it another (sober) go tomorrow.

Yeah so anyway. Full steam ahead.