Day 7: Foiled by Lorraine

A hard snow turned into light rain late this afternoon, so naturally, once the extreme weather had subsided, our office got a 4:37 email saying we could all go home at 4:30. The gym also closed early, and I was unable to either use the hamstermill or rescue my new shoes from their stinky locker prison. I'm flying down to Florida tomorrow, which means when I'm there I'll have to run in my old, talking sneakers. I'm interested in seeing what it feels like to run on actual pavement. I've heard conflicting reports: one side tells me that pavement is harder on the knees, another side tells me pavement feels better because it's more natural. (How pavement is considered natural is a question for another day.)

On the bright side, all this rain means that my roof is still leaking water on my floor, which is even more impressive seeing as how I'm not on the top floor. It's important to stay positive, kids.

I also want to test out some new shin stretches I heard about last night when I went to the Team Challenge kick-off party. It was fun getting to meet some of my mentors and teammates - I'm on Team YAMS, a group of 11 girls, most of whom have Crohn's or colitis and are not runners, which makes me feel more confident about my own ability to finish.

**Update: I was able to run after all! Leila, my friend with a gym, was nice enough to sign me in again, and we worked out together. Total mileage: 2.3. I finished the first mile in about 10:30, plus a minute to stretch, and the last 1.3 took around 16 minutes. I think the new stretches helped, because I was able to run for longer periods, and at a faster pace, before my shins started burning. I was more tired for the second half, though.