Running 5 miles in the rain wearing a padded cotton bra because all of my sports bras were in the washing machine was pretty poor planning. I probably should have done laundry earlier in the week. And it might have been smart to check the weather before I laced up my running shoes! Either way, that was the situation I found myself in on one of my recent runs. I literally dumped ALL of my laundry from the week into the machine and then realized I didn’t have a clean sports bra to run in. Whatever, I thought, I’ll just wear a regular bra and tighten it. No big deal.

I set out to run 5 miles and about a mile in, of course, it started to rain.

I figure there are three options on how you can handle this:

1. Quit and just skip the workout…it wasn’t really in the cards to workout today.
2. Do the workout, but be miserable the entire time and totally consider only eating salads til you die to exorcise the suffering of exercise from your life.
3. Do the workout, kill it, and have one of the best runs of your life.

Obviously I didn’t choose # 2…salads and I are not really friends. #biscuitsforlife. I’m also really proud to say that I didn’t choose #1. I feel like once you’re in the middle of a workout, you might as well just keep doing it!

I have this love/hate relationship with running that I often describe as the way I think childbirth must be. At least in the way that you go through so much pain and then somehow forget about how awful that part was and you get back up and willingly do it all over again. 70 percent of my running lately has been horrible. My legs have felt like lead poles, my hips are constantly tight and sore, and I can’t get my headphones to stay in my ears for some reason. I still keep lacing up my sneakers though and I’m thinking it’s because of that small 30 percent where I run feeling invincible. Those runs, the ones where I feel like a bad ass, are everything to me. They’re the ones that make me feel like my body can do awesome things. They’re the ones that keep me going out even though there’s a greater chance that I’ll have a terrible run than a good one. I’ll put myself through that because I’m just hoping that when I step outside, today is one of those 30 percent days.

Isn’t that just like life though? Pushing through and hoping for the best even though the odds are against it? Isn’t that why we play the lottery? Or drive on 95? I think that in life, just like in running, you just go out and hope that today’s going to be one of the good days, and not one of the tough ones. But, it’s the tough days we have to be thankful for because without them, we wouldn’t appreciate the good days so much. I feel amazing on those 30 percent days because I know how it feels at the opposite of the spectrum and I’m that much more thankful for every step I take and every second I shave off of my times that day.

Here’s to tough days, to running in the rain, and to doing best that you can, even when your best is not THE best you’ve ever done.