Epic fail of a run attempt

I don't know whether or not I should be happy that I was able to drag myself out of bed this AM or completely disappointed because it was such a waste.  The extra 30 minutes of sleep probably would have been a more productive use of my time.

Today's run was supposed to just be 3 miles, which should be just a piece of cake.  It's finally starting to feel like spring, the sun was rising, and I have a new city to explore by foot.

Well, I checked Twitter before getting out of bed and saw people complaining about snow and when I checked the weather... yup, sure enough, temperatures were in the low 30s.  Yuck.  However, I had prepared for both cold weather and warm weather running and packed my hat and gloves, long pants, tops, etc. so I bundled up and got ready to go out.

First, I can't find my iPod running strap thingy.  No biggie, I'll just hold it and hopefully the iPod thing will turn up later today or tomorrow or something.  Second, my Garmin, which I now feel oddly dependent on, starts beeping at me, "Low Battery" and says I am at 7%.  I guess the 10 mile run on Saturday took a lot out of my Garmin as well.  I know how that feels as I spent the majority of the rest of my weekend after that run looking like this:

Anyways, I got out of bed and headed outside hoping to just bang these 3 miles out and hoping my Garmin would stay alive for 30 minutes.  Or at the very least 15, as I was hoping to do 1.5 miles out from my hotel and 1.5 miles back.

Well, I realized that my hotel is pretty much a top a hill.  I looked from side to side and realized, I'm either going to be running up or down hill for this entire run if I try to go out and back.

Oh and I haven't mentioned my legs.  Yah, they aren't really bending or operating properly after yesterday's squats and alligators. You guys know the look, right?  When you're walking around as if you've got a load in your pants and/or just went through a hip replacement surgery?  When you've got to grip the side railing while doing the stairs?  Yup, I'm there.

I immediately through out my idea of doing an out and back run since I didn't think my creaky legs would handle the hills very well and instead began to run in circles around my hotel parking lot.  Yup, go me.  I was terrified that people from my conference that I am attending would see me.  And smartie pants me is wearing the most neon, brightest running top I own that essentially makes me stick out against the gray/brown dirt, trees, and pavement like crazy.  I'm sure everyone was waking up and looking out their windows wondering who the lunatic circling the parking lot was.

I felt like I was running through mud too.  Not my finest moment.

After a half a mile, my legs were barely moving.  I kept telling myself, "Just keep going.  Break the rust off these bad boys," but even the self talk wasn't really getting me very far.  I let myself walk after a half a mile and told myself, "this is okay, we can still get something out of this" and decided to try and do half a mile run/half a mile walk for the 3 miles.  But when I checked my Garmin again and it said .85 miles, it died.  Great.

It was then time to weigh my options... keep attempting this pathetic run/walk in circles around the parking lot or head inside.  Between the cold, my legs, the dead Garmin, the hills, and the fact that it wasn't 7 am yet and I hate running that early even under perfect conditions... I opted to head inside.

Mentally I'm telling myself, "I can try to get to the hotel gym later."  Or, "Even if you push your runs back this week, you could do 3-5-3 miles starting Wednesday."

And yes, these things are all a possibility and still a reality.  However, I know how difficult exercise is for me to keep up with while I am traveling and I'm a bit nervous as to how it will all play out.  However, for now, I'm wrapping this morning's run up as an overall #fail.

Hope your work outs go better than mine so far!