Another Saturday, Another Miserable Run

 

Saturday morning, I woke up and was thrilled to see that the temp was 28 degrees—that’s downright balmy compared to what it has been around here. 😛  As opposed to the previous Saturday, when I woke up completely panicked about my impending 14-mile run, this time, I felt much less stressed.  Sure, it was still a 15-mile run, but it wasn’t snowing and it was almost up to freezing.  Woo hoo, right?

I’d spent Friday night driving around, trying to find a route that had plowed paths.  I was bound and determined not to have to struggle with avoiding traffic on slushy roads this week, but it seemed like all the important paths were closed for the season.  Katie and I had planned on running the “new” path at one of the Metroparks, so I drove by it—nope, closed. I tried another one that connected a few Metroparks—nope, closed.  Argh!  I tried one that ran alongside a somewhat major road.  Couldn’t find the path for all the snow. :/ Finally, I gave up and decided I would have to run a route that put me a mile or so on a main road (two miles, since it was an out and back), and another mile on a side road, but most of it would be on paths that were cleared.

When I got up, I saw that it had snowed the night before, but just a few inches.  I figured I’d be okay, hoping they’d plowed the paths at the Metropark, at least. When I got to the starting point about 7:30, which was just outside the Metropark (since I have been unable to get there during office hours when I could buy a 2014 pass!), it started to snow lightly.  I can handle light snow, right? I’ve done it before.  Hmm…slushy snow on a side road?  Not ideal, but okay, I’ll tough it out…again.

I started running on the road, and once I got into the Metropark, I was thrilled to see that they had plowed.  Those guys must have been out in the dark plowing!  Once I got to the lake side, it was a pretty view, at least.

 

The path wasn’t perfect, but it was somewhat cleared.

 

 

I ran the length of the Metropark, but discovered that the path farther north hadn’t been plowed.  I was kind of bummed, but then, in the middle of the wooded area, right before I hit the top of the Metropark, I heard a loud noise behind me.  Guess who was coming through?

 

 

My hero, the plow driver!  🙂  Unfortunately, he didn’t plow the path outside the park, but I was grateful he was plowing, because that meant my trip back would be better.

I headed out and then ended up on a main road again, but at that earlier hour, traffic wasn’t too bad.  I crossed a bridge over the freeway and then ended up on a path that I knew hadn’t been plowed last night, but that I’d hoped wasn’t too awful.  It definitely wasn’t ideal, but I was able to trudge through it really slowly until it curved and I got to a spot that was by a rec center.

And then I cursed. A lot.

Turns out the people at the rec center see no reason to plow the path around it.  [insert more swearing here]  It was no less than 6 inches deep, and it had been tracked through by hikers so that it was a rutted mess.  [insert more swearing here] [I’m not lying, I really was swearing. Out loud.  Very colorfully.]

I kind of ran, kind of stumbled through it all until I finally got close enough to the rec center parking lot, and then I climbed a big mound of plowed snow and trudged through the parking lot.  I had to run past the rec center up to the main road and turn around, and I did it, but I stopped for a break in the middle because I was so tired from running through the snow.

On the way back, I was depressed because I knew I’d have to trudge through that snow path again, and I finally just decided it was stupid to try to run through it, so when I got there, I walked the whole thing. It turned out to be 3/10^th of a mile! How frustrating for someone who was already lamenting their horrible long-run pace. 🙁

Once I made it through the worst part, it was actually a relief to hit the first part again, where it was snowy but not as deep.

 

 

Can you believe that was the good part of the path? I wish I’d taken a shot of the truly awful part, but I was tired and frustrated and forgot.

Back on the main road, I discovered that what had been a quiet road at 8am was now a busy road at 9am.  I walked up the bridge that crossed over the freeway because I was so damn tired, but I still had 6 miles to go.  I dodged more traffic, but I will admit I lost my focus at the big intersection and nearly ran out into oncoming traffic because I forgot to check. Oops. I remembered in time, though, and lived to tell about it, obviously.

When I got to mile 9.75, I began to feel overwhelmed.  I had sworn after last week’s miserable run that I wouldn’t ever do that again, but here I was, running on the road, in the snow and slush, dodging traffic that didn’t care to move aside for me, heading directly into a strong, snow-filled headwind.  At that point, I felt defeated, and I stopped right there on the side of the road and started crying. I stood there for probably 3 minutes and sobbed, but then, I came to realized that crying only wasted time and energy, and I still had 5 more miles to go.  The idea to call my husband for a pick-up didn’t occur to me…I just couldn’t give up after ten miles, when I was so close to getting back to the calm, cleared paths of the Metropark!

So, I wiped my ever-running nose, took a drink of water, then went back at it.  Once I got to the Metropark, I was stunned to find that the path that had been plowed just two hours before now had 2 inches of snow on it.  I’m no math genius, but I’m pretty sure that adds up to an inch per hour snowfall rate.  Dude!  And here I was, running that. :/

By this time, I was so tired, I finally just gave myself permission to walk ever mile.  I did this for three miles, but then, with just a mile and a half to go, guess who came back by?  My best friend, the plow driver. 🙂  I had to get off the path to avoid being plowed, lol, and since the snow was deep on the side of the path, I had to stop.  I waved and gave him a thumbs up again, and I’m sure he remembered me, because he smiled and waved back.

Once I started up again, I convinced myself that although I was tired, I could run the last mile and a half.  I was running around a 12:30 mile at that point (how embarrassing for someone who ran a half-marathon at 9:50 :(), but I told myself that it was okay, and I could even go slower if I had to.  As long as I kept running.

Despite having a tail wind for the last mile, it was the hardest mile I’ve run that I can remember.  I don’t think I’ve checked the distance on my Garmin so much in one mile ever. 😛  I did it, though, and I have the picture to prove it.

 

 

Yep, it took me three hours and sixteen minutes to run that 15 miles, but on the bright side, that is the entire time…I never stopped my Garmin, even when I walked in the snow or when I stopped for my pity party.  So while it was a long run, my overall average pace (start to finish) was actually lower than my 14-mile run, when I stopped more.

You’d think after all that, I would’ve gone home and slept for hours.  But no…it was my anniversary celebration day, and I had to clean up, then pack a bag for an overnight trip an hour north. 😛 I did get a chance for a hot bath to warm up, and then, later, I got to dress up with my husband and wear my new dress.

 

 

 

 

The restaurant was lovely, and had a nice fireplace to keep me warm.

 

 

We had a lovely dinner.  While we waited for our food, we took an anniversary dinner selfie. 🙂

 

 

The waitress tried to get a shot of us, but it turns out that not everyone is well-versed in iPhone camera usage, so this was the best we got.

 

 

I had filet, if you’re curious, and tiramisu for dessert.  By the time dinner was done, I was almost falling asleep in my plate, lol.  The next morning, I got up and took some shots of the inn.  It was built in 1845—that’s darned old for Michigan!

 

 

 

Our room was actually a suite with a sitting room—sweet! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved the old thermometer…and it was accurate, too!

I did strength training Sunday, then was back up and at it yesterday morning at 5:30am to run 7 miles on the treadmill.  {sigh}  But despite all the food I ate over the weekend, I still had a respectable weigh-in.

 

 

Just up .4, which isn’t bad.  I will say that I’m going to have to start thinking about life after marathon training before too long.  All this run does suck, but the food I’ve been eating is pretty awesome. 😀

Thanks for reading yet another long, whiny post about my winter marathon training.  Someday, it’ll be spring, and then what will I complain about? 😉