Not crazy, just itchy

Leave a comment

October 16, 2013 by Amy B

My kids have been battling colds of varying degrees for the past few weeks. Yesterday they’d progressed to the point where I couldn’t let them hack all over the other kids at daycare, so we stayed home.

All day.

By ourselves.

I know all the SAHMs are thinking, yeah, big whoop. And it’s not that I haven’t stayed home with my kids – I took three months off with each when they were born – but somehow, it was different. Newborn infants are in a lot of ways easier, if you omit the sleep deprivation, constant neediness and so on.

I read somewhere that a four year old asks about 500 questions a day. You childless people laugh, but I swear to GOD it is truth.

Let’s just say by the end of the day I was a little frazzled and in that place where all I desire is to be sitting alone without someone touching me or asking me for something.

The weather last night was rainy and temperatures were hanging in the 40s. The wind was whipping ever so slightly. My instinct on days like these is to bag it, and I probably stuck my head out the door at least four times trying to decide if I was going to run or not.

Finally, when I couldn’t handle the kids’ whining one more minute, I just threw on stuff and announced I was leaving. My husband looked at me, layered in long sleeves, balaclava, gloves, and a rain jacket and said,

“You know, if you want some alone time, you could just drive up to the library or something.”

Translated:

“You’re fuh-reaking crazy to go out and run in this shit.”

But you know what? After the first few minutes, when I realized I wasn’t going to melt or blow away, it wasn’t so bad. I didn’t set any expectations for pace. The road was slippery from the falling rain and wet leaves, so I just concentrated on solid steps. Since the weather was so lousy, no one was outside and few cars were on the road. It turned out to be a very peaceful run.

I have to give a little credit to Oiselle for this jacket:

This is a Fall 2012 style I found on sale on the Interwebs. It’s called the Clearly Jacket (for mostly obvious reasons) and is warm and rain and wind resistant. I’ll admit that I was skeptical when I first tried it on, because the fabric is stretchy! And it made me think of the rain jacket I have from another popular outdoor outfitter and how I hated doing anything “athletic” in it, because it didn’t breathe. There is nothing worse than running/skiing/biking and feeling like you’re suffocating from all the sweat just getting trapped under a rubber jacket.

I am not sure how Oiselle did it, but this jacket does exactly what it claims: it keeps out rain, keeps you warm, and disappears – you forget you have it on! I wondered if it would make that annoying swishing noise as I ran, but it didn’t. The wind was blowing hard enough to the point I didn’t feel I was too warm, but I would probably not wear this jacket in 50 degree weather (or at least I’d layer something far less warm underneath). (For the record, I had on a Lux layer, pair of Lesley knickers, and tall compression socks.)

I was even a little disappointed when I finished my run, because I felt I could keep running. The weather wasn’t bothering me at all, and I was enjoying the time by myself.

So thanks, Oiselle, for taking away my “but it’s raining!” excuse. No lie – Oiselle has invigorated my running life in so more ways than just gear, but the gear on its own kicks ass.

---

No workout left behind: And for those of you keeping track at home, Monday night’s run was this:

Nothing fancy or fabulous, just my favorite backroad hilly run, nice and easy.