"Runners are masochists." Discuss.

What a difference a day makes! This was the view out of the car this morning as we drove oh-so-gingerly on icy roads to the site of this morning's group run in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Scaredy cat that I am, I posted to the Team in Training group last night saying, "Uh, guys? Rain's no biggie, but freezing rain in the forecast sounds like an excellent way to wrap your car around a tree. Might we cancel?"

This morning rolled around, and there was no cancellation since it was "just rain" falling. The tricky part was that the ground was still very cold from our recent Arctic blast, so the stuff instantly froze on street signs, trees, and most importantly, THE ROAD.

However, Annie, our intrepid driver this morning, was undaunted. Well, she was mildly daunted, but she drove slowly and carefully and managed not to give us a close-up view of any ditches or tree bark. We were actually the first ones there and wondered if there had been a late cancellation we hadn't heard about before others started trickling in. It was a small but mighty group this morning, with almost as many coaches as runners and walkers.

Things didn't get off to a good start when one of our team members fell just as we were getting on the path. She seemed okay, but holy moley, the trail was really a mess. The middle of the path was barely passable and very, very icy. Annie and I picked our way along the side and walked/tiptoed as much as we ran. The cold rain splatted steadily and very loudly on my hood, and my shoes were either slipping around or splooshing through puddles for most of the time we were on the trail. There were several bridges, all of which were very slick--we didn't even try to run across them. And I was somewhat overdressed, so I was pretty uncomfortable on the way back. (Technical note to self: Adding rain pants and rain jacket means you should drop to one layer on the bottom and two light ones on the top. Switch out the heavy pink zip-up for the lighter Marmot zip-up instead.) About the only good thing I can say is that it wasn't windy. 30+ MPH wind gusts really would have been the icing on the cake.

I've just described pretty miserable conditions, right? Conditions that no sane person would go out and run in, right? Well, there are a shocking number of patently insane people out there, because in the 39 minutes we were oh-so-slowly covering the three miles in the training schedule (just as bad as last week, but we were trying not to sprain anything!), we saw at least a dozen runners on this slip-n-slide trail who were not Team in Training people. Just folks out for a run. Seriously crazy folks.

When we got back to the parking lot, the coaches were standing there in the cold, steady rain, talking to each other like it was 60° and sunny, just completely oblivious. We came back from the restrooms a few minutes later, and they were still there. Same position, just chatting, still unfazed. And even as we drove off, they stood rooted to the spot like their own little grove of trees. Ample proof that dyed-in-the-wool runners have a certain masochistic streak, if you ask me.

After this cold, bleary, surviving-is-the-best-you-can-hope-for run, I went and had pancakes. And these were no ordinary pancakes, no sir: these were fresh-off-the-griddle gingerbread pancakes with lemon curd topping.

Words fail to convey how incredibly delicious they were!