Streak Power Activate

I took my Saturday rest day with glee, pure glee, I tell you. 

And I also used it to rest up for a 6 miles Sunday. 

I wasn't planning on 6 miles, not explicitly. I thought I might make it, and I chose a route that would allow it, but I thought I'd come up short, if only because it was raining on Sunday when I wanted to run. 

See, I didn't want to run too early in the morning, because it's winter. And I prefer to run when it's a bit warmer, around mid-day, instead of first thing in the morning, because I don't like running in the cold. 

I mean, I am running in the cold, but it's not the coldest. 

So, after breakfast omelets, I waited for almost two hours and then decided to get going, right around 11:30. When I saw that it was actively raining, I decided to use my husband's poncho to stay dry-ish. I figured I could do it, as long as I didn't get soaked. 

The poncho is, essentially, like a trash bag with a hood and zippers. It is also way big on me. I didn't enjoy the crinkly sounds with every step and move, but it kept me dry. I couldn't keep the hood up for long, because I started warming up from the exercise. But I kept the poncho as a whole on until the rain let up, just before I hit 3 miles. 

Once I took it off, the poncho was a bit of a pain to carry. I'd had vague thoughts of tucking it into the fanny pack strap, but I wasn't able to do that while running so I just crumpled it into a football-like shape and kept it tucked under one arm or the other as I ran. 

I use the Map My Run app to track my miles. When I get to within a block or so of home, I take the phone out and prepare to stop the tracking function. On this particular day, I saw that my total mileage to that point was 5.96 miles. 

So. Close. To 6 miles. 

I paused the workout because that was what I had intended to do when I pulled it out. But then I resumed it, because there was no way I was going to quit that close to 6 miles. It's been a long time since I ran that far in one go. I had to round it out. 

I ended up a smidge over 6 miles, but I still planned to run at least 2 miles on Tuesday and Thursday. I finished my Tuesday run already, so I've just got one more for the week to meet my goal. I still run slowly, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable in my pace. I hope I can keep this streak going for a good long stretch. I might leave the goal at 10 miles, but I am hoping to expand my range for the long runs, without cutting back on the two short runs each week.