I ran 18 miles on Saturday. It was 33 degrees when I started. Sounds glorious, right? At least if you’re from the northern part of the U.S., it should. And it would have been, had it not been for the winds.
They were coming from the west and WSW, and they were pretty brutal, sustained in the 15-25 mph range and gusting 25-35mph. (The joys of having a weather station: I know exactly what the wind speeds are in my neck of the woods in five-minute intervals.)
I got started at 8am, but I had to turn around at the half-mile point because I forgot my water. I almost said screw it, but then I decided that 18 miles without water was a bad idea. 😛 I was right—I ended up drinking every drop of two bottles on my run. Besides the first stop to get water, I took breaks (and stopped the Garmin) at about 7 miles, 10ish miles, 14 miles, and 16.25 miles. I hated all those stops, but I needed those breaks! The wind was rough…but the last four miles with the tailwind was pretty sweet. 🙂
I ended up with an average moving time of 11:28.
If you include the rest breaks (which for some reason, my online Garmin Connect software did…!), I ran at a 12:29 pace.
Just FYI, if you add up each of those pace splits and average them, it does NOT come out to 12:29! 😛 I’ve noticed a lot of weird things going on with the Garmin Connect software lately (I’ll plan a route that is a specific length, but then I save it and the site decides it’s suddenly 4 miles shorter!). I think they’re updating the site, so I’m hopeful they’ll get these bugs worked out soon.
At any rate, thanks to my rest breaks, I was able to get some decent pictures along my run.
Isn’t that last picture of the lake beautiful? Ha! That’s no lake…that’s a field filled with water from snowmelt that re-froze into ice when the weather got cold again. Yes, it’s been that kind of winter.
I know I’ve been complaining a lot about how hard my marathon training has been thanks to all the cold, harsh weather. Just some of the things I’ve experienced while running this winter:
- An air-temp of 6 degrees
- Snowfall at a rate of an inch an hour
- Winds sustained in the 20-30mph range
- Paths covered in six inches of snow for more than a quarter mile
- Dodging piles of ice and slush on the road while attempting to avoid being hit by traffic.
I know that there are plenty of people who’ve overcome much greater obstacles than I have while training for a 26.2 mile race, but I’ll admit it: sometimes when I’ve been out there, I’ve felt like the world’s biggest “marathon martyr.” 😉
Today I discovered this article, and it made me feel a little, tiny bit vindicated.
That’s right…there is an official “misery index” that says not only is the city of Detroit having its worst winter in six decades, but also that our winter is more miserable than any other US city this season.
So maybe there is some justification to my whining. 😉
Meanwhile, tomorrow is my youngest son’s first 5k–if we’re lucky, it’ll warm up to freezing by the time the race starts. 😉
Thank you for reading!
If you can survive marathon training during the worst winter in six decades, you can do anything. 🙂
Boggling that your youngest is old enough to run a 5K. Hope it goes well!
Umm yeah. In order for 12:29 to be your average you’d have to have some splits higher than the. None of yours are. Lame. I guess I need to see what my connect data looks like.
You are a trooper, Steph. I am so impressed by your dedication to your training. Hoping that things thaw out soon and you are able to train in better conditions…