Susan: A very expensive run and fear is a great motivator

Today was "long" run day, in this case, 6 miles, and it cost me over $500.

Note to self: If you are paying over $100 a month for your iPhone service plan, you should probably go ahead and use it to check the weather before you start running on the C&O Canal towpath.

So, I am coming up on mile 4, tired and bored to tears, and wondering how I ever thought that I was going to finish two more miles when Boom! The heavens open up to the lovely accompaniment of wind, thunder and lightening... and where am I exactly? Oh yeah, on a tree laden TOWPATH with the canal 3 feet to my left and the Potomac River 5 feet to my right. And I'm wondering, WHERE exactly am I supposed to go to be safe???? The Girl Scouts were not clear about this when I was a kid, so I run faster. Two phrases repeat themselves over and over in my head: "Oh SHIT!!!!" and "Please God, I don't want to die like this."

Note to self: Fear of getting hit by lightening or a falling tree limb will give you abundant energy for running a new PR!

Finally, though, the bridge over the canal back to the car is in sight. But hey, where is the car? Oh, there it is but it's kinda hard to see with a TREE coming out the back window. A damn TREE LIMB fell on my rear window and broke all the glass.

On the bright side, I barely noticed those last two miles. On the other hand, my Ipod shuffle died in the rain and some doofus actually took the kneestrap that I left on a fence because it was chafing.

And that's the story of how a lovely run on the scenic C&O Canal towpath, cost me $500 but got me a new PR.