My Neighbors Must Think I’m A Freak

Well, my goodness, it’s been a few days!  I’m not doing very well in providing inspiration and motivation lately, am I? Sorry about that, but I’m in marathon training now, and that means some things have to give. It’s four days a week running, and the runs just keep getting longer, so I have to make that a priority. Well, that and my kids, my husband, my job… 😉 (You’ll notice I didn’t put “Clean my house” in there anywhere.  :p )

So, just to update you on how things are going for me so far in 2014: I ended last year and therefore started this year on a pretty good note.

 

 

Considering that my goal for this year is to keep it at 115 or so, I was pretty happy with that.  Especially after all the cookies and cake I last week. 😉 I ran on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, all outside. It didn’t get above 19° any of those days, and it snowed on Tuesday afternoon, all of Wednesday, and into Thursday. That snowy run on New Year’s Day was pretty tough, but I managed. It was only 3 miles, but the first half was into the wind, so I had to take a break for a few minutes at the turn around.

 

 

There was a lot of snow, and that was just the beginning. It was pretty hard to trudge through that, but I did it. There were a lot of drifts, and I will admit that it definitely wasn’t my fastest pace. It was cold and windy too, but thankfully I had my son’s latest Christmas gift to help me.

 

 

It’s an under Armour Hood, and I don’t know how I survived running in the cold before this thing. Jamie’s getting kind of mad at me, because I’m using it more than he is, but when he starts his 10K training toward the end of the month, I’ll probably have to get one of my own.

After I ran, even though I was freezing cold and swore I wasn’t going outside again, I gave into my kids’ begging and took them to the toboggan hill.

 

 

I really hate sledding, but I love my kids, and their dad had to work Wednesday night, so I went ahead and took them. I even made a few runs myself, although I almost did kill myself in a tree at one point. 😛

I was supposed to run 6 miles yesterday morning before work, but I woke up and it was -3°.

 

 

Dude, really? Yeah, so I blew that off.  😉 But lest you think I’m lazy, I did do it when I got home, when it was a balmy 9°.  And dark. (!!)  Besides the biting cold temperature, the winds fooled me a little, too…I checked my weather station before I left, and they seemed to be in the 6-10 mph range from the West, so I planned a mostly north-south route.  Well, damned if they didn’t switch to 10-15 mph from the south–oy!  It was a tough go in spots, with all the snow and spots of ice on the road, which ensured that it was not my most impressive run by any stretch, but I dressed as warm as possible, took it nice and easy, and knocked out a “winter wonderland” six-miler.

I saw an amazing amount of traffic while I ran (in the dark and cold)…at least 20 cars passed me.  Since the roads were pretty much only plowed for one lane of traffic, that was fun. 😛  I can only imagine what my neighbors thought when they saw the crazy runner girl trudging through the snow in the dark at 9 degrees.  Probably something along the lines of, “Who is that freak?!” 😉  But I did it, and I must say, I was quite proud of myself for getting it done.  The formerly-fat girl that I used to be would have never, ever attempted something so energetic. Of course, when I got home, I ate the dinner my husband cooked and then immediately went to bed. 😉 Running in 9 degrees takes a lot out of you, as it turns out. But it’s better than running in -3°, right? 😀

I joke about 9° being “warm,” and yet, next week we’re looking at -18° for a low, and a high on Tuesday of -1°. Holy crap!! I have clearly picked the worst possible winter to start training for my first marathon. :/

I was looking at my Garmin activity report from last year, where I write a little note about each run, and I noticed one of the runs where it was 50° in May.  In my note, I was complaining about how cold it was. Ha! What I wouldn’t give to have that back. 😉 Dude, if I survive this winter, it will be a miracle. If I survive this winter and successfully train for a marathon, it may very well be worth a Presidential medal of honor. 😉 (Just kidding!)

So that’s it for this week. Feel free to come back next week, to see if my fingers have thawed out enough to type another post. 😉

Thanks for reading!