Sun and warm temps called me outside

It was way too nice to stay cooped up.

The sun was shining. There were no clouds in the sky. The mercury was hovering around the mid-60s. And there was a slight breeze.

I couldn't talk myself into going from my office, where I sat at my desk most of the day, into my car, driving a few blocks and locking myself up in the YMCA.

Mother Nature was in a good mood. It was too nice to stay inside.

So instead of turning left at the corner, I turned right and headed home.

Where I promptly changed into shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed my sunglasses and iPod and took off for a run.

It was my first "real" run outside this year. Yes, I've done a few of those transition runs off the bike the past few weeks, but they haven't been of any substantial length. A mile here, a mile there. Today? I was going to attempt one of my regular routes from last summer. I was planning on a 3.5 mile run around my neighborhood.

And it was hard.

After a mile I thought I was going to have to alert my plans. My legs? They felt like lead weights. I'm not sure if it was because I've been pushing myself the last two days or if it was because I found myself running straight into that "slight" breeze, which had picked up a bit. Whatever the reason, I was feeling it after a mile.

But I kept running. Granted, it was slow, around a 11:30 minute mile, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other. And it got easier during mile 2. And mile 3. But by the time I finished that last half mile, I was glad.

And then I hopped on my bike. Because remember, the weather? It was beautiful. And my bike was feeling lonely in the garage. So I ended my night with a quick 4.5 mile bike ride.

Not too bad.

Yes, I could have done all this at the YMCA and avoided the bugs. But it was so much nicer outside. I'll return to the YMCA when the pool calls. Tomorrow.