My run today was the second part of a brick that began with a three and a half hour ride on the trainer. I also knew that the run would be taking place in some INTENSELY wicked weather. The rain was coming down hard and the wind was gusting far in excess of 50 miles an hour.

I geared up and headed out the door. My legs felt remarkably alive, not fresh, just really ready to run for having just gotten off a very long trainer ride. I headed on what has become my normal route toward Inwood Hill Park. The wind was already firing the rain at my face like a swarm of angry bees, but I just put my head down and went.

When I got to the park, I decided to go up into the hills to get in my assigned 15 minutes of running and to throw some difficulty at myself to see what I could do. I may have spoken about it before, but if not I cannot say enough about my headlamp. I use the Sprinter by Black Diamond Equipment, and were it not for that amazing little lamp (designed specifically for running), I would have been in some serious trouble with all the branches and several trees that had fallen into and across the path.

When I came down out of the hills, the portion of the park that runs right beside the water was, in fact, UNDER water. So, I had to backtrack around the loop I was on before heading home. The entire time I was out, the wind sounded like a massive freight train thundering by. Tomorrow, I fear, will be more of the same and so I believe that my long, one hour, forty-five minute run will have to be on a dreadmill.