CCCCCOLD!

Well, here we are not even the end of September yet and it is getting cold here in Chicago. Last night, a few of us went on a short little run after work. Unfortunately, I don't pay enough attention to Tom Skilling, so I was completely unprepared for the chilly evening ahead.

We were to meet around 5:45pm and start the run at 6:00pm. Because, living in Chicago, one can never predict what traffic the conditions will be like, I left myself an hour to get there. On this day, traffic was very light! I didn't have to cut anyone off, yell out the window OR flip the bird through my sunroof. It was a great traffic day! Only problem is, that got me to my destination about 20 minutes too early.

Now one would think, "OK, then, go out and run 20 minutes until the others arrive." Well, not at this time in the season. My thoughts were more like, "Gee, I hope no one else shows up so I can just go home." If I didn't have a couple of pending races on my calendar, I think I'd be going home and sitting on the couch every night.

Others arrived and I had a jacket on to try an keep a little warm. The past few days have been windy and the sun was rapidly setting. We were also going to be running in forest preserve, which is even a bit cooler. I wasn't the only one anxious to get the show on the road. There was a chance we had one more joining us, so after a quick call to her cell phone (I got voice mail), we decided to hit the trail.

From the moment we started, my fingers and ears were cold. The wind never really died down, yet the temperature seemed to be dropping every minute! We talked, harassed each other, updated each other on recent race experiences and talked strategy for our upcoming adventure race. The time went quickly.

Just as we were nearing the end of the run, we spotted a familiar face standing at the beginning of the trail. Uh oh, she showed up. And we had left her. We had only started about 7 minutes ahead of schedule, but that was enough time to ensure we'd never even known she arrived. I felt so horrible! We learned she also ran, she just didn't go as far out as we did. Thankfully she's a good sport and blamed it on herself for being late (she really wasn't).

We blamed the chilly weather as our reason for starting. Couple the temperature with the sun quickly setting and we won't be able to have many more evening runs on the trail. Summer is just about over.