Once I put a plan on paper, I don't deviate much from it. Doesn't really matter if it's a running plan, a teaching plan, or a moving plan. Oh, I'll tweak it. I'll tweak it right up until the plan is set in motion, but I find comfort in sticking to a plan. I put thought into my plans. Or I put my trust in the people who made the plans. In the case of my Dopey training, I'm trusting Hal Higdon. He's gotten me through more than one marathon; I'd like to shake his hand someday.
(The exception for the "stick to the plan rule" may be race day. On race day, I always say that I go in with a plan, but then I am totally prepared to throw the plan out the window the moment the gun goes off.)
For the last two weeks, I've had to flip my Wednesday, mid week long run to Tuesday. Family schedules and much shorter days mean that trying to get in eight in the middle of the week is rough. Just tweaking the plan. I headed out on Tuesday night, and by the time I was home, my throat was killing me. I couldn't talk. A cold was about to hit me full force.
I like to think that I'm a solitary sufferer; when I get sick, I like to lock myself in a room, curl up in a fetal position, and whine to myself about the state of affairs. I doubt my husband would agree with this assessment; I'm pretty sure he would argue that I'm a big baby. By Wednesday morning, I was in full-on sick mode. I managed to teach my two short classes, but I was home in bed by 2:00. No run for me on Wednesday.
I was determined to stick to the weekend schedule. It was to be a mini-Dopey--3 on Friday, 8 on Saturday, 18 on Sunday. So Friday night I got my run in. Good enough. But the weather today didn't look promising. And my husband had a hockey game to coach. And our daughter has been feeling kind of crummy, too. Life was getting in the way of running.
I got up this morning to pouring rain. The temperature was dropping. And I am still at about 70 percent. So a tweaking of the plan needed to happen. I got out and ran 3 in the rain at about 8:30 this morning. Tomorrow, 8 miles. Monday (thank you, Thanksgiving vacation) 18 miles.
A month and a half until Disney. Hard to believe it. Still need to buy plane tickets.
