Wild, Wacky, & Windy 10 MILES

Today was the day to run the first ever double digit run- 10 miles.  It was quite an adventure indeed.  Although the sun is out and the temperature is close to 60, the weather conditions certainly weren't ideal.  There is both a high wind warning and fire weather warning here today.  I figured the wind would be a pain but we ran 9 last week with some gusty winds.  Well Marissa and I left from the apartment and got about 100 meters tops to the first stop light and I turned to her and asked if we were really going to do this.  The wind was blowing so hard it was ridiculous.  She assured me we could get through it and on we went.  When we ran through east campus which is set higher up, the wind was blowing so hard we literally were not moving forward even though our arms and legs were moving.  The gusts seemed to be mostly in our face or hitting us from the side for the first 6 miles out to EMU.  I could barely hear my music but that didn't matter because it got so windy that my headphones wouldn't stay in my ears.  As we got closer to Port Republic the air turned really hazy with smoke.  We had been smelling smoke the whole way and I even noticed it when I had gone to the grocery store in the morning.  I guess the fire warning was in effect for good reason.

During mile 5 both of us were dying as we had been fighting the wind so hard but we were nearing our break spot at EMU and both decided that we needed to look strong as we passed some shady characters.  It never felt so good to see that building where we take a bathroom/water/gummy break and man did it feel nice to escape the wind for a few minutes and give the legs a short rest while refueling.  The way back was a whole different story.  We had 4 miles to get back and for the most part the wind was at our back pushing us along.  To give you some idea of just how windy it was, we got impaled by flying leaves, had stuff constantly blowing in our eyes, and even saw a street sign topple over into the middle of the road.  Despite all of that WE DID IT!  I have no doubt that we will be prepared for the half now.  To top it all off we ran about a 9 minute mile pace despite the wind.  Ten miles in 1:32 (including the stops to cross at the lights) not bad at all.  Couldn't have done it without my running buddy- thanks Marissa for keeping me going.