Sometimes a run can turn into the opposite of what had been planned. Thursday’s run turned into exactly that.

I generally plan for a run well in advance, but Thanksgiving (and my plans to see my family up in Balsam Grove, NC) threw last week for a loop. Add the facts that I was dealing with a touch of peroneal tendonitis, and that I had a 15 mile run planned, and I came up with a mess of a schedule.

So after some thought, we decided that instead of a rest weekend after the half marathon, I would run 15 miles instead of the 10 that we scheduled. That way, I thought, I would just push my 10 mile rest run back one week and have the added benefit of not being too tired on Thanksgiving day.

Black Balsam area. http://www.summitpost.org/black-balsam-knob/153843

Well that didn’t exactly work out. I had chosen a trail out at Black Balsam, as it would have been decently level. It’s a fun trail to hike and leads out to a designated wilderness area. It’s really pretty out there. Once I got to the parking lot, however, I realized the trail was soaked and there were sections with inches of standing water. I decided we’d try to climb up to the Art Loeb trail and run up there.

But, of course, that wasn’t going to work out as the wind was blowing like crazy. The only other people out there were bear hunters (who sit in their warm trucks while their dogs run around looking for bears to chase) and for good reason. It was freezing and windy. Eventually I decided to just head out to the Blue Ridge Parkway and run on the road. This was turning out to be a mess.

It was cold, windy, and foggy but we decided to get our 10 miles in anyhow. I was coming off of a week of not running due to my tendonitis, and we noticed the toll that was being taken. It was possibly the worst run I had been on in 2010.  But I stuck through it and actually enjoyed a few miles of it (mainly the downhill portions).

It was a tough run, and I learned a few things. I was reminded of the importance of sticking to a schedule or really allowing it to change.

Still, I had some fun and now know what’s needed in the future. On to this week of running.