I don’t know what all the fuss was all about last night… me doubting if I should go for a run because of the ‘weather warnings’…. woooooooo scary wind and rain!!
Oh no what might happen?!

I put a poll on my blog and on Facebook, and the result was that 7 people thought I should run, and 3 people thought I was crazy and I should stay in my bed and forget about the run.  🙂

Thanks to everyone who voted.  I’m glad I got out of my bed for the run.  🙂

So what did happen?  Absolutely nothing.  It was a great run.  Sure it was a little bit windy and a little wet, but definitely not the worst I’ve run in.  In fact the wettest my body got wasn’t from the rain, but from cars and buses splashing the puddles at me.  A couple got me a cracker… I ended up with wet and dirty legs.  Lovely.  Just what I needed to start me off for a great day. 🙂

I left the flat at 6:32am…. and met my bachelor neighbour ‘Willie’ in the close.  He was leaving for work as usual, and I was going for my run.  I had on my (old) Saucony Paramounts, yellow trainer socks, orange/yellow shorts, a pinky/orange compression top, yellow nike tshirt, my orange (windproof and water proof) gillet and my white cap to keep the rain out of my eyes.  I should have taken a picture, but apparently I made his day by him seeing me (to laugh at or like my legs, I’m not sure which lol) so that was a nice start to my day.

I opened the front door, half expecting an apocalyptic scene… but it was fine.  Sure it was dark and a little windy…but it wasn’t really raining.  Not proper Glasgow rain anyway.

The first few miles were fine, and the rain only really kicked in around half way.  Even then, I was warm and covered up well.   And I was running through built up areas so I was pretty much sheltered for most of it.

I felt strong running, very comfortable in my cardio.  But I did feel yesterday’s gym session(s) in my quads a bit at the start.  Ouch.

I started out well (8:04 for the first mile), ran the second mile the slowest mile (uphill at 8:24), then the miles just got quicker and quicker.  7:51, 7:32, 7:06.  Average pace of 7:46, a little quicker than last weeks 5 mile run (on another route) but much the same really.

The good thing I find about running in bad conditions is that I think it makes me push it a little harder.  As if the faster I go, the less time I’ll spend in the wind and rain.  😉  Here are my tips for running in the rain by the way.

And by the way, no matter how bad it looks, you can usually be safe going out for a run (unless it’s flooding or proper hurricane weather).

PS: Apologies to Sandra – I didn’t wear a vest – I was going to after your suggestion, or even wear a compression tshirt under my yellow t-shirt, but I wimped out and wore a long sleeved compression top instead.  Toasty warm.  🙂

5.1 miles, 39:38, Pace: 7:46, Calories: 380, Garmin Training Effect: 4.1.