A wet, wet run

Long slow run: Ran 8.8 miles / 14K 1:17 min

The Swiss Alpine Marathon (http://www.swissalpine.ch/) is in 2 weeks now (2 weeks from today! Gee, I'm nervous!), so the long runs are getting shorter and it's time to give my legs some rest for the marathon. Tapering-time! This will be my first marathon, and I actually have no idea if this taperingthing works, but, hey, I'll just give it a try! All the books/websites say it works, so I'm expecting miracles. ;)

It was about 20 degrees Celsius (70 F) at 9 AM outside this morning; way better temp for running than the extreme heat of the past weeks! Headed out of town to run through the fields, past some farmers (cherry, strawberry, etc.). It smelled like strawberries everywhere! Jummie!

The run was going nice and slow; well, apart from the pitstop I had to make because I had to pee; there's no point in not going, 'cause it will only give you cramps; thank the runninggods that I don't have any shame and will pee just about anywhere! Don't get me wrong; I'm not gonna pull a Paula Radcliffe on you, but if a girl's got to go, well, she's got to go!

Paula...pulling a Paula Radcliffe (I think Paula rocks!)

And then it happened; just my luck. I had about 3/4 of the run in, when some idiot in a BMW tried to drive me into the bushes! Hello, Mr.; you couldn't have not seen me coming; I was wearing a pink runningskirt and an aqua top! And:

1) I was on a CYCLEpath (CYCLEpath = not for cars; what the heck was that guy doing there!),

2) the path had enough space for two SUV's driving side to side and

3) I was running all the way on the right of the path, so he had about 5 meters / 17 feet to pass me (your car isn't that big, fella!). For crying out loud, why did he have to push me into the bushes! Well, sir, consider yourself blacklisted...

To top it off, it started raining like crazy in the last 1/4 of the run. Should've checked the weatherreport before the run; note to self 'Check weather before running; even in summer!'. Crazy, crazy; hailstones and all...in summer! I was soaking wet, (wet t-shirt contest-wet) but being my little competitive self, I wanted to finish the run as scheduled...so I did. Thank the modern world for hot showers! :)