I knocked off another long run outside on Saturday, this one 17 miles. I’m sure you’re all sick of seeing pictures of my weather station, but here’s another one to show you the joy I woke up to on Saturday.
Yet another single-digit run. I can’t believe I’m getting accustomed to this!
I decided to run between two Metroparks, but because the “connector” path was closed for the winter, I had to take a detour on some main roads. I was going to start at the bottom and then do a simple out-and-back, but then I realized that if I started in the middle, I could stop at my car during the run for a water break. This was kind of important, because one thing I’ve learned about doing these single-digit runs is that you can carry water with you, but it eventually freezes and then you are left both cold and thirsty. 😛
It was cold, but at least it was sunny.
I started out on the roads, and I had the most exciting (for me) experience. You all probably have figured out by now that I love me some history, and especially historic architecture. I grew up in the area around these Metroparks when I was a kid, and the road I had to run on for about 2 miles is one I’ve travelled over 100 times in my life. In fact, I ran right by the former house of my best friend from childhood. Not far down the road from her old house, I saw something that surprised the heck out of me.
Yes, that’s an old house with a historical marker in front. I was geeked—I eat that stuff up whenever I see it. (Ask my sister how many times we had to make sudden stops for “green and gold signs” on our travels as teenagers. 😉 ) I went back after my run to take pictures and discovered it was a home built in 1866 (pretty old for Michigan). I couldn’t believe that I’d never seen this home before! Seriously, I’ve been driving by it for over 30 years! This is one of the things I love most about running…seeing new things!
As I continued on the main roads, I unfortunately got stopped by a train. 😛
It lasted about 4 minutes…grrr. But I just drank some water (not yet frozen, lol) and then continued on.
The trek through the Metropark wasn’t awful. The paths were somewhat clear, all things considered. I saw a lot that looked like this.
And then again, I saw more than my share of this, too.
I kept it fairly slow, but still faster than my last run, where it was more ice than path.
On my way back to the car for my mid-run break, I took a slight detour onto a road that wasn’t quite as busy as the first one, and that’s where I saw another surprising sight: robins. Dozens of them, jumping around the road and in the trees, paying no attention to me whatsoever. For real, I ran within a couple of feet of some of them, but they were completely unfazed. I went back after my run and was delighted to find them still there. At that point, I figured out what they were so interested in: a tree with a multitude of berries.
They were so intent on eating those berries, they didn’t even care about me taking a few dozen photos. 🙂
Once I got back to my car after seeing the birds (the first time), I took a five-minute water and rest break, then headed out. I had less than 5 miles to go at that point, and I did a simple out and back for about 2.5 miles. I was headed into the wind on my way out, and the path was more tree-covered that way, and therefore more icy, but I just kept telling myself I was almost done…almost done…and then…I was done!
My husband had texted me when I was about a mile from the end, asking me to let him know when I was done. I waited until I was finished, and then I sent him this as a response.
LOL, humble, that’s me. 😉
Not a fast run by any stretch, but faster than all my last ones. My total time does not include the train break or the water break, but with all that ice, I still felt I did well.
Afterwards, I went home and rested. Not. 😛 Actually, I did take a shower and sit on the couch for a bit, but then I had to go grocery shopping—one of my least favorite chores. On the bright side, though, one of the moms from Jamie’s hockey team invited Daniel to come over and play with her younger son while I shopped. As if that wasn’t bonus enough, she had some leftover treats from her parents from Valentine’s Day that she was trying to get rid of, and as hard as it was 😉 , I agreed to take a few home.
Those are homemade chocolate chip cookies and a delicious bakery-made carrot-cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Score!! That and a glass of wine were the perfect “I Just ran 17 miles in single-digit weather” treat. 😀
That’s it for this run report…next up, I’ll post one of my favorite new “cold-weather” recipes. Thanks so much for reading!
I love your weather station if I had a house I would have one too :). Your photos keep on getting better and better with each post! Congrats on your run.
Thank you SO much, Joy. I love taking pictures, so to know they are appreciated just makes my heart sing. 🙂 Thank you!!
I like your weather station. In fact, if you had a webcam to stick in front of it so we could all check the weather at your house at any time, I think that’d be kind of cool!
Amazing the things you don’t see when you drive past at faster than running (or for some of us, walking) speeds.
Ha ha, I have seen webcams on other weather stations, and I’ve always chuckled, because, really, that would be over the top. 😉 And you are right–I have seen some incredible things while running! Thanks for commenting!
I can’t believe that you saw robins already! That HAS to mean that spring weather is coming soon! Today, as I was driving, I saw some big birds of some kind at the very last possible second as I was passing them. They were in a field back a ways from the road so I didn’t get a very good look and couldn’t decide if they were wild turkeys or sandhill cranes. I thought that there is no way possible that any sandhill cranes would be around in this frozen tundra but they seemed to be quite large for wild turkeys so I’m not sure what they were. I guess I should have turned around and went back! (I was in a rural area so I could have easily done that) Now I am going to be on the look out for robins!