THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

14.07 in 2:06:41/9:00 pace-- about a second per mile slower than last week.  Weather today: 8 degrees, 6 below 0 with windchill factor.  Cold, but no snow or ice.  I started off SLOW.  I just didn't feel like putting any effort into it, and I didn't for most of the first half.  The second half I kicked it up a notch(not much), but enough to pick up some of my slack from the first half.  My husband met me 3 times with water just  like last week.  I felt pretty good except for a stiffness creeping into my legs toward the end.  At the first stop my husband told me there was frost on my face.  I didn't know it was there so I guess it didn't bother me!  Came home, stretched, showered, and then ate a huge breakfast(two over-medium eggs, a piece of toast, an orange, and coffee with cream).  Pre-run was half a cup of coffee and two pieces of toast with jelly.  I am sometimes amazed at the amount of food I am putting into my body on some days.  I lost 12 pounds in the first 3 months or so after starting running in August, but since then have held pretty steady at my current weight.  I would like to weigh 105(pre-pregnancy weight--I am only 5'1"), but I am not in any rush to get there.  I figure as long as a eat to appetite and try to pick the right foods my weight will be whatever it wants to be!  

6.4 nice and easy today. The wind out of the south was pretty harsh--a steady 25-40mph according to the news. It wasn't as cold as yesterday, though. When I first got up the outside of my left knee hurt pretty bad and I thought I was in trouble, but after it warmed up a bit it was fine. It's a tad sore now but nothing like it felt this morning. Probably leftovers from yesterday's long run. I will have to take it very easy for a couple more days at least. Christmas is almost here! Yeah!

Started out bad, but finished good. Knee is definitely better this morning, but still iffy. The run started out pretty rough--iffy knee and my calves were in knots. I was running very slow and jerky, and had myself all prepared for a miserable run. Right at about mile 2.5, it was like somebody suddenly flipped a switch, knee stopped hurting, calves loosened up, and my running smoothed out to normal. I felt so great that I considered doing a tempo run, but decided against it--I think my body needs a few more days of easy running. Merry Christmas Eve everybody! Unfortunately EMS does not close for the holidays so I have to work(I'm at work right now but we're not on a call)--hopefully it is slow! I have to work tomorrow but not until noon so I can spend all morning with the kids and be there when they open their presents.

Merry Christmas everybody! I spent all morning with my family before going to work so no run today-I'll run a few extra miles tomorrow! We are having a wonderful Christmas and I hope everyone else is too!

The plan today was 1 mile warm-up, 6.5 mile tempo on the dirt roads, and one mile cool down. It didn't happen. On the one mile warm-up my calves were tight and would not let up. I started into the tempo and realized that the roads were muddy and a bit slippery--which was making my calves hurt worse, so after running half the tempo on dirt and mud, I turned onto asphalt instead of doing a 180 and running back. I ran an altered route which cut out .5 mile but got me out of the mud for a couple of miles. My calves stayed tight the whole time and it was really hard to maintain pace, but I made myself keep trying to run hard. 6 mile tempo was in 47:48/7:58 pace. I was wanting to stay under 8:00 pace for the tempo so I barely made it! One mile cool down and inside for some major stretching! The weather today was unbelievable--in the FIFTIES! I wore a running skirt and short-sleeve t-shirt and got HOT! Only in Kansas can the weather be below 0 and several days later be 60 degrees higher....

 p.m.  My sweet little Ian's 7th birthday was today, so we took down the Christmas decorations, put up the speedracer stuff, blew up balloons, and had a birthday party!  We do this every year the day after Christmas!  I had cake and ice cream like a trooper, felt horribly bloated, and decided to run a couple miles.  Brandon ran the first one with me.  I let him run at his pace which was a pretty good clip, pretty close to my tempo pace with a 200 meter or so sprint at the end, then he went in the house and I ran another one nice and slow.  I feel better now.

Easy run today--wore my new running shirt--it was thirty degrees and windy and the shirt kept me plenty warm. It was a great run today--I felt great! If I had known I would feel so good I would have saved the tempo run for today. Oh well. It is snowing now but doesn't seem to be sticking..yet.

p.m.  one mile with Brandon