Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The thin line between dedicated and crazy?

Today I ran 35 minutes outside.
No biggie you say.
It was 45 degrees and I ran at 3:30.
Oh, it might have been chilly for a few people.
The wind was blowing at 45 MPH.
If you have ever wanted to be a human kite, you should have run with me today. At a certain point I was "running" along, leaning into the wind, and also cursing out loud but you couldn't hear anything I was saying b/c the wind was howling by
Why did I do this?
Well, I really needed to get in some miles. I knew it was "windy," but a mini hurricane wasn't on my radar (tee hee) but I was also asking myself what the thin line was between being crazy and being dedicated. Was I being dedicated by going out despite the wind or crazy by running despite the wind--and not choosing some other alternative? Not many people would be out running in that wind. I'm pretty sure about that. I had to look like a nutter. The weird thing is, I probably would have gotten about the same sort of workout inside on the dreadmill. Mentally it would have sucked the same and honestly, I think the effort level outside gave me more bang for my buck.

What do you think? Is running in adverse weather crazy or crazy dedicated?
What are the benefits to running when it's not "perfect?" What are the drawbacks?
At what point do you say "ENOUGH!" and take a weather day off OR go to the gym?

1 comment:

  1. I'm kind of a weather puss. I'll run in the cold, I ran in 26* about 2 weeks ago. That as fine.

    I'll race in the rain, but I don't want to really train in the rain.

    The wind is a no-go. I can't run in the wind. It drives me crazy.

    Yah, I'm a wuss, I know.

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