Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run on MacArthur Ranch Road loop.

5:09 am, 36° F, 36% humidity, wind 5 SE, partly cloudy, full moon.

I felt really sluggish at the beginning of this run. It took me half the run to really get going.

At one point I was running on the shoulder of the road and noticed the glow of a headlight approaching me from behind and for a split second I thought it was a car even though it wasn't making any noise. I jumped up onto the grass to avoid it. But it turned out to be a bicycle. It just startled me. Later I was nearly hit by a car turning right from a side street onto the street I was running on, but I was able to pull up short and avoid it. The driver mouthed "sorry" or something like that. The driver was a teenage girl. Not long after that, I encountered old man with the stiff arm runner and passed him. That's about all that happened on my run this morning. Except my husband called me a couple of times during my run and I had to take off my glove to answer the phone because I can't slide it open with a glove on. That made me kind of cold. The temperature actually dropped a degree over the course of my run.

I'm still stressed about something.

AP: 9:26. Splits: 10:11, 9:58, 9:48, 9:37, 9:44, 9:18, 9:05, 8:57, 8:49, 8:59.

Slow Snowy Six.

5:01 am, 16°F, 85% humidity, wind 5 NNW, light snow with about 1/2 - 1" of snow on the ground.

I figure that I should try to run outside on the first day of a snow storm because if I'm going to take one treadmill day per snow storm, the second day is usually worse than the first because freshly fallen snow is easier to run on than the icy stuff that's left behind after snow plow and cars have been driving around for a day. Also, it's supposed to be even colder tomorrow than it was this morning.

I'm thinking that I might actually take the day off tomorrow, perish the thought. I was very sluggish today and I'm feeling a little tired and run down. Maybe I need some rest if I'm going to run a decent 5K this Saturday.

In the neighborhood I was making the first tracks on the freshly fallen snow, but on one street a person and two dogs had been there before me this morning. The human tracks were in the middle with dog tracks on either side. It made kind of an interesting pattern in the snow. On another street I followed the tracks of two runners for a long way. I continued to follow their tracks when I turned a corner, and then I found the two runners. It was two women. They were going even slower than I was and so I caught up with them. I said something as I approached them because I needed them to go single-file so I could pass. I really startled one of them, and she kind of slipped moving over, but she didn't fall down. The other one commented that there's never anyone out there with them. I thought of saying that I'm out there every morning, but instead I just apologized for startling them.

I also saw a guy out shoveling his driveway at just a few minutes after 5:00, near the beginning of my run. I thought that showed real dedication, or something.

Thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement they offered me yesterday, and especially to those who listened to my tale of woe. I feel hopeful today, but there is still work to be done.

AP: 10:00. Splits: 10:32, 10:10, 10:05, 9:51, 10:00, 9:24.

I picked the right morning to sleep in and skip my run. We have a light dusting of freshly fallen snow, but the real issue is the temperatures. It was 4°F when I got up this morning.

You know my life is crazy when I can get up at 6:30 and that's sleeping in for 2 hours. But alas, I cannot sleep later than that because the kids have to be fed and gotten off to school and I've got work to do.

Easy run.

5:11 am, 6°F, 59% humidity, wind 8 ESE.

I had clear places to run most of the time by staying on the north side of the road, but I did run into some stretches of ice covered with a thin layer of crusty snow (which helped it not be slippery) in some areas, particularly on roads that ran north/south. I did a couple of loops close to home rather than going on my normal 6 mile route so that I could cut it short if need be. I wore two pairs of pants, two shirts, and a light jacket, with the bottom layer both bottom and top being SmartWool. That kept me plenty warm, maybe even a little too warm when the wind was behind me. I also wore two pairs of gloves, a neck gaitor thing to cover my face, a fleece ear cover thing, and my usual cap. I started out feeling really sluggish but then got feeling better as the run progressed.

AP: 9:36. Splits: 10:13, 9:59, 9:27, 9:30, 9:23, 9:15, with 0.24 at 9:00 pace.

In other news, my oven stopped working last night. It just doesn't warm up. That's a problem I didn't want to deal with right now. I'll just add it to the list. At least the stove is still working.

I'm looking forward to going up to Boulder for the race tomorrow with my fabulous friend Michelle, though I'm not so sure I'm looking forward to actually running the race. I need to get myself psyched up to run fast for 3.1 miles. The faster I run, the sooner it's over. Right?

This was a fun race. Michelle and I drove up to Boulder and had a pretty easy time finding a parking place since we were there for one of the earlier waves. We parked and then walked to the field house, where we picked up our packets and made a pit stop in real indoor bathrooms (yeah!). Then we walked back to my car and pinned on our bibs and stuff, then went for a warm-up run. We got a little bit lost (at least I was kind of lost) on our warm-up run and ended up on the race course. We figured we'd just follow the race course and that would take us back to either the start or the finish. It was kind of funny because the earliest waves had already started and though we didn't really encounter any groups of racers while we were on the course, the course marshals along the way thought we were running the race and cheered us on. When we got almost to the finish, we debated whether to turn off the course and go a different way, and a guy was trying to encourage us and direct us to the finish. So we went in through the field house (the finish was in the field house) and went from there to the start, which was just a block or so away. Because of getting lost, we ended up going a little further on the warm up than we intended and running it a little faster than we intended so that we could get to the start line in time for the start of my race. We made it to the start line 3 minutes before my race started.

I was able to start right up on the start mat because there were not a ton of people in my race. I got going to fast at the start of the race because it was slightly downhill. I ran that first mile in 7:12. The second mile was a little tougher with some gradual uphill and I slowed down and ran that mile in 7:46. For the third mile, I was back on the part of the course that I had run during my warm up and was able to run that mile in 7:21. I ran 6:16 pace for the last .1. Michelle was there at the finish line to cheer me on, which was great. I run so many races alone, it's not often that I have anyone waiting for me at the finish.

There was a woman who passed me right after the start of the race, but then I passed her after a while and I was never passed by a woman for the rest of the race, so I think I was the first woman in my race. However, because of the way these invitational races are set up based on your BolderBoulder finish time, they don't give awards by gender, and I definitely wasn't the first finisher overall.

Also, I lost a pair of nice gloves some time during my race. I had clipped them to a safety pin that was holding my car key to my pants, but they must have fallen off.

I was pretty beat immediately after I finished my race, but there were about 17 minutes until Michelle's race started. So after I caught my breath a little, we made our way out of the field house back to the start line. Michelle warmed up a little on the road where the start line was, but I was tired, so I just waited for her. Some race official questioned why I was running in that wave, because my bib was the wrong color. I explained that I had already run my race and was running with my friend. And I didn't have my timing chip by that point. The race official said that was fine, but that when I got to the finish I should go off to the side and not through the shoot or else they would time me manually.

I tried to let Michelle set the pace for her race, but I think I pushed her to go just a little bitter faster than she might have on her own. I looked for my gloves to see if I could find them as I went back over the course, but I didn't find them. Oh well. It's interesting to me that our splits for Michelle's race follow the same contour as the splits from when I did it alone. That 2nd mile is net uphill, while 1st and 3rd miles are net downhill. Splits for this race were 8:04, 8:40, 8:14, with the last .1 at 7:54. I didn't actually run across the finish line, since I went off to the side once we got in the field house. But I hit the stop button when I saw Michelle cross the line. This was a PR for Michelle!

Just a minute after Michelle and I finished, I thought I saw Nan, and so I chased her down. We visited with her for a little while and Michelle and I picked up our Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuits, and then we all walked out to our cars. Nan had parked in the same lot that we had, so that was convenient.

All in all, it was a very fun morning. Thanks to Nan for coming to see us at the end, and Michelle, if you're reading this, thank you! You're awesome!

**Addendum**

In my race, I was 10th overall out of 31 runners, but I was indeed the first woman in my race, so I awarded myself first in my division even though they didn't track places by sex or age in this race.

Michelle was 24th out of 89 runners in her race, and was the 4th woman. See, she is awesome!

Easy run + level 2 shred.

5:06 am, 7°F, 75% humidity, winds calm, a couple inches of powdery snow on the ground.

I debated whether to run outside this morning or run on the treadmill. I decided to be hard core and run outside. I kind of like to be outside in the early morning when there's snow on the ground. It's very peaceful.

I ran my 4 mile neighborhood loop twice instead of a bigger 8 mile loop because I didn't want to venture too far from home. Most of the snow fell yesterday, not overnight, and so some places were plowed with varying levels of success. About a little more than half of my run was through neighborhoods while the rest was on main roads. In the neighborhoods, I ran in the road where the cars had smashed the snow down. I think there had also been a plow through at some point yesterday, but the neighborhood roads were still snow-packed. On the main roads, the sidewalks had been plowed for the most part and so they were either relatively clear or had a thin layer of snow, depending how recently they were plowed. I wore my YakTrax and that helped.

I managed to get my oven fixed on Friday, but now my refrigerator stopped working last night. Why are all of these things happening right now? Fortunately, it's wicked cold outside, so I put the food from the refrigerator in boxes and put the boxes in my garage, which is plenty cold.

Mechanically-enforced progression run.

Welcome to the frozen wasteland, where right now, at 11:37 am, it is 4 degrees outside. We didn't get the snow that they forecast for today, but we did get the cold. So I wimped out and stayed inside today. I got up at 4:30 like usual, but then I worked during the time I would normally run and shower. After all my kids were off to school, I came to work, and during the time that I would normally work, I ran and showered.

I set the treadmill at a 1% incline and started out at 6 mph (10:00 pace) and ran a mile at that pace. At the end of that mile and each mile thereafter, I hit the speed increase button once. So my splits were 10:00, 9:50, 9:41, 9:31, 9:23, 9:14, 9:05, 8:57, 8:49, 8:42. The treadmill won't let you go for more than 60 minutes, so I did six miles, then stopped the treadmill and restarted it and then did the rest.

It was very boring. The blinds were closed and I was too lazy to go over there and open them, so I couldn't even watch the traffic out the window. There were a couple of other people in the gym, but because of where the treadmills are positioned, they were all behind me and so I couldn't see them. I could see a little sliver of tree branches in the gap between the blinds and the window frame, and it looked like the branches were bouncing up and down as I ran. That was my visual entertainment for an hour and a half or so. I did have music for audio entertainment.

In other news, after a great big hit to my bank account, my refrigerator is working now.

Interminable treadmill torture.

When I got up this morning, it was -12 degrees, not counting the wind chill. By 10 am, it was -2 degrees. Now, at a little past 1 pm, we're up to 7 degrees. So we're warming up, but I still did the work at home, run at work thing. Maybe I'll make it outside tomorrow.

My kids had a one-hour delayed start at school, so I was particularly late getting in to the office to run. By the end of my run, the gym was quite crowded. After I was finished and getting dressed, I wondered which of the women in the gym the leopard-print bra that was hanging in the locker room belonged to.

I decided to take it a little easier on the treadmill today than I did yesterday, so I left the incline at 0 and did 2 miles at 10:00 pace, and then the rest of it at 9:31 pace. I took my shoes off and ran barefoot for the last half mile. Also, I opened the blinds before I started running today so at least I had the traffic outside to look at.

Easy run.

5:04 am, 10° F, 40% humidity, winds calm.

I considered working for a while early this morning and then running after the sun rises, but the temperature was high enough when I got up this morning that I decided to go with my regular routine and get the running done first. For the most part, the sidewalks on the main streets in this area have been plowed. I encountered some snowy spots, but it wasn't bad. The snow that is on the ground is more crunchy than slick.

My legs felt surprisingly good on my run this morning. I guess the treadmill didn't take too much out of me the last couple of days.

I was warm enough until near the end of my run, when I couldn't pull my neck gaitor back over my face because I had let it fall down for a while when I was feeling warm and it had frozen. Now I'm really cold, but one son just complained that his shower was cold because another son is taking a bath. So I'll have to wait a while if I want hot water.

I was glad to get outside and off the treadmill this morning.

AP: 9:12. Splits: 9:34, 9:28, 9:15, 9:26, 9:04, 9:01, 8:47, 9:03, and 0.40 @ 9:02.

Easy run + level 2 Shred.

5:18 am, 17°F, 45% humidity, wind 2 SE, waning crescent moon.

How is it that the temperature dropped 3 degrees between 5 and 6 am? I've seen it do that before and it always perplexes me. I would think the overnight low would bottom out earlier and that the temperature would be rising by that time.

My run was a little icier today than yesterday because we actually had a little melting yesterday and then it froze again, but I didn't run into any significant problems.

I saw a couple of other runners this morning. I haven't been seeing many people out early in the morning lately.

AP: 9:24. Splits: 10:01, 9:38, 9:31, 9:13, 9:13, 9:05, 0.38 @ 8:40.

**Update**

It was time to go to work, but I took a nap instead. Now I have to go to work.

Long run.

7:00 am, 31° F, 46% humidity, wind 4 SSE.

Busy morning. The Highline Canal Trail is still covered in snow, and so Team Michelle and I opted to run the streets around Highlands Ranch instead. I ran the long way to Michelle's house (the other Michelle lives next door). It was just over 3 miles. Then the three of us ran 10 miles together, and then I ran home a shorter way, about a mile and a third.

AP: 9:33. Splits: 9:20, 8:55, 8:52, 9:38, 9:49, 9:42, 9:37, 9:35, 9:52, 9:52, 9:50, 9:54, 9:50, 9:12, 0.46 @ 8:58.

Team Michelle and I, as well as another friend, are registered as a group for the Canyonlands Half Marathon lottery. I hope we get in. Also, the Michelles are talking about running a marathon next year. They seem to have caught the marathon bug. I'm excited for them. Also, they've been running 3 days/week for about a year and now they're going to move up to 4 days a week. Now if I could just get them to join the blog . . .

I had some other stuff to do right after my run. I'm just taking a quick break now to post my workout.

 **Update**
Nap accomplished.

Easy run + 6 x 10 sec. hill sprints + level 3 shred.

5:14 am, 24°F, 60% humidity, wind 4 SSE, sliver of a waning crescent moon.

I'm in a good mood this morning, even though I had a rough weekend. I know it's somewhat dangerous to run with headphones and I normally don't run with them in the winter because there are just too many things on my head. However, I got the soundtrack to Wicked over the weekend and I also put some hip teenage stuff on my not-pod that I got from my teenage son. So this morning on my run I listened to the entire Wicked soundtrack and then I listened to a few songs by The Ting Tings. It was actually a lot of fun. I hadn't planned to do hill sprints today, but when I was almost at the end of my run and I reached the hill where I normally do my hill sprints, I was having so much fun, I decided to do them. I'm out of practice with them and I kept hitting the stop/start button instead of the lap button on the first two hill sprints, but then I realized what I was doing wrong and remembered how to do it.

In other good news, my Colorado friends and I will be coming to Moab to run in the Canyonlands Half Marathon in March! It's going to be such fun!

AP: 9:17. Splits: 9:42, 9:28, 9:24, 9:02, 9:19, 8:56, 9:07, 8:56, and .32 @ 8:44.

Pace on the 3-6 hill sprints were 6:58, 6:54, 7:14, 7:24.

Easy run.

5:17 am, 29°F, 38% humidity, wind 6 S.

It was a pleasant run with music again. It was not quite as wonderful as yesterday, but was a nice run just the same. I like to run to songs that are in 3 because if they're fast enough for me to match my stride to the beat, the 3 beats to the measure cause me to alternate which foot is going down on the down beat. But most songs are in 4. I found this little song that is in 3 and that I enjoyed running to this morning. It's not a terrifically fast tempo, but is good for an easy run.

AP: 9:21. Splits: 9:52, 9:28, 9:35, 9:22, 9:38, 9:17, 9:07, 9:04, 9:13, 8:58.

I bought a new pair of pants and a new shirt yesterday to wear to my work party today (I'm singing in the little company choir, so I'm dressing up a little more than I would otherwise). I bought size 6 pants for the first time in I don't know how long. And I got about half of my hair cut off (the bottom half).

Tempo run. 2 miles warm-up, 4 miles at 1/2 M pace, 2 miles cool-down.

5:49 am, 44°F, 21% humidity, wind 6 S.

I held off blogging because I was going to do the shred after I got the kids off to school, but I took a nap instead. Maybe I'll try to do the shred this afternoon. I'm working from home today.

I listened to the soundtrack to Aida on my run this morning. I've never seen the show and I'm not familiar with the music with the exception to the song "Written in the Stars." But my husband's school is doing it as their school musical in the Spring and he's the musical director, so he bought the CD. It wasn't quite as fun to run to as Wicked is. It's more serious, I guess. But maybe it will grow on me.

AP: 8:38. Splits: 9:47, 9:37, 8:06, 8:11, 8:10, 7;42, 8:43, 8:41. I meant to slow down a little more on the cool down miles, but those miles are slightly downhill and that pace felt comfortable at that point.

Easy run.  Busy morning.

5:14 am, 42°F, 45% humidity, wind 3 SSW.

I ran the loop that takes me past my office, but this time I went out around the front of my office instead of staying on the main road that runs behind my office. This route gives me some good hill climbing on the way back home. I ran the route counter-clockwise, so back home was up Highlands Ranch Parkway.

AP: 9:25. Splits: 10:06, 9:38, 9:30, 9:25, 9:37, 9:38, 9:21, 9:04, 8;47, 8:59, 0.24 @ 9:34.

I've got to hurry and get showered and dressed because I've got to go to the elementary school this morning for my daughter's holiday party. And I've got to dress nicely for work because the choir is singing at work again today.

Easy run + level 3 shred.

6:07 am, 23°F, 80% humidity, winds calm.

I fell asleep at 8:00 last night, but then I had to get up about 9:45 to go pick up my son from work and then I did some other stuff while I was up and got back to bed around 11:00 or 11:30. I had kind of a hard time going back to sleep. But then I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed and then out of the house this morning. My normal sense of urgency was gone because the kids don't have school today.

It was a little colder this morning than it has been the last couple of days. There was frost on the cars that were parked on the street.

AP: 9:35. Splits: 9:52, 9:44, 9:39, 9:35, 9:23, 9:23, 0.42 @ 9:27.

Michelle and I have to run early tomorrow morning because we've got a choir practice at 9:00 am for our Christmas program, which is on Sunday. I'm the choir director and can't sing worth a darn, and Michelle is an awesome soprano.

Long run.

6:01 am, 23°F, 54% humidity, wind 10 S.

I was up late last night doing some Christmas shopping and then making a treat for today's choir practice and folding laundry. Then I had to drag myself out of bed early this morning to go meet Michelle and Michelle for a run. Like last Saturday, I ran a little over 3 miles to get to Michelle's house and then the three of us ran 9.5 miles together. We were going to do 10 together, but cut it short a little because Michelle and I needed to get ready for choir practice. Then I ran back home on a route that is a little less than a mile and a half. We picked up the pace a little at the end because we were in a hurry. We were all a little tired today, though.

AP: 9:33. Splits: 9:43, 9:23, 9:21, 9:40, 10:14, 10:07, 9:50, 9:42, 9:55, 9:48, 9;37, 9:16, 8:44, 8:26.

The choir practice went well. We spent 2 hours practicing and a couple of the pieces could use a little more work, but oh well. We'll have a practice before church tomorrow, and then do our program and be done with it. It will be a relief to me to get this over with.

Now all the things that I absolutely had to do today are done. I hope I can get a nap this afternoon.

I just wanted to let you know that the choir performance went really well. My thanks go out to the many ward members who came out and sang, and particularly to Michelle for anchoring the soprano section and doing an awesome job on the obligato in Mary's Lullaby. I got lots of nice comments from people afterward and one woman came up to me in tears and said that it was the best Christmas program she had ever been to. Now if I can just round up the one missing choir folder so that I can return the music to the library. And I need to hurry and buy some new music and use up my choir budget for the year.

Easy run + 7 x 10 sec. hill sprints + level 3 shred.

6:20 am, 39°F, 31% humidity, wind 8 S, gusting to 14.

It turns out that it's easier to get up at 4:30 when I have to get the kids off to school than to get up at 5:30 when I don't have to get the kids off to school. I guess I need some kind of external deadline that is firmer than just needing to get myself to work to get myself out of bed in the morning.

That being said, I enjoyed the warm weather and had a pleasant run today. I ran the County Line/Quebec loop. I was feeling good for most of the run, except for the last bit of the uphill part on Quebec St. going directly into the wind. After some consideration this morning, I've concluded that east on County Line plus south on Quebec is harder than east on Highlands Ranch Parkway.

AP: 9:05. Splits: 9:41, 9:02, 9:06, 8:44, 9:00 (this was the uphill into the wind part), 8:41, 8:40, 8:40. Paces on the hill sprints were: 6:16, 6:09, 6:23, 6:51, 6:25, 7:15, 5:56.

Happy Winter Solstice everyone!

Easy run.

5:46 am, 39° at the start, 34° at the end, 45% humidity, wind 9 SSE.

Yesterday I talked about how it was easier to bet out of bed when I have a firm obligation such as getting the kids off to school. It turns out I can hop right out of bed when I realize I've over slept and I've promised to meet someone at a certain time. I was planning to meet the Michelles at 6:15 this morning and I set my alarm for 5:00 so that I'd have ample time to get read and run at least 3 miles before meeting up with them. I looked at my clock at 4:40 and thought about getting up and running even more before meeting them, but decided against it and went back to sleep. The next time I looked at my clock it was 5:34. I had neglected to turn my alarm on. I needed to leave the house at 5:45 in order to get 3 miles in before meeting the Michelles (I could take a shorter route if I needed to). That gave me 11 minutes to get out the door. I made it in 12 minutes. And then my adrenalin must have been pumping a bit for the rush and I ran there a little faster than I normally do.

So I ran a little over 3 miles to Michelle's house and then ran 4 miles with the two Michelles, then ran a little less than 3 miles home. Then I went in my house and changed into my new Vibram Five Fingers that I bought last night at the huge gigantic REI store in downtown Denver. I want back out and did a half mile in the Five Fingers. I neglected to put my gloves back on and the temperature was dropping, so I was a little chilly on that last bit of my run, but my feet were okay. My stupid little stubby pinky toes don't like to be separated from their neighbors and they complained about about being shoved into their own little pockets in the Five Fingers, but it was bearable. Maybe they'll get used to it.

AP: 9:25. Splits: 9:39, 9:04, 9:00, 9:59, 9:55, 9:30, 9:27, 9:23, 9:21, 0.82 @ 9:29. 0.52 @ 9:19 in the Five Fingers.

Tempo run of sorts (not as fast as I hoped it would be).

7:35 am, 28° F, 57% humidity, winds calm, light snow.

I ran on the snow-covered Highline Canal Trail with Nan this morning. A huge thanks to Nan for driving down here on the snowy roads to run with me today! I enjoyed running and talking with Nan this morning, but I felt bad that I didn't have the strength to get going very fast. I was really tired for some reason. Maybe I should blame it on the weather. The trail had about an inch of snow on it and it was more slippery than I thought it would be. I very nearly fell one time, but managed to stay on my feet. My tracks in the snow revealed that I don't pick up my feet very much when I run. I should probably work on that.

AP: 8:37. Splits: 9:08, 8:39, 8:20, 8:20, 8:38, 8:35, 8:50, 8:28.

After the run, Nan and I both enjoyed a piece of the fabulous wheat bread that Michelle made.

Frozen run.

3:30 pm, 23 dropping to 20°F, 57% humdity, winds calm.

Well, I finally made it out. I got up early and went to work in the morning because I needed to put in 4 hours and I had some things to finish at work. Then I had an appointment with the eye doctor at 11:30. After that, things just kept getting in the way. Also, I was feeling kind of sick to my stomach. Maybe it was what I ate, or maybe I was "see" sick from seeing too much because the doctor had dilated my eyes.

I wish I had gone out earlier because it was quite sunny earlier, but by the time I got out the sun was starting to go down. It set about halfway through my run, I think. I ran the loop that takes me past my work and I had a really rough time coming back on Highlands Ranch Parkway because when the sun was up, the snow had been melting, making little rivers on the sidewalk. As soon as the sun went down, those little rivers froze. It was very slippery. I fell down once. It wasn't too bad of a fall.

I've run in temperatures lower than this before but for some reason I was really cold during this whole run. I guess I was inadequately dressed. But I had my double gloves, which have served me fine before, and I couldn't feel the fingers on my left hand by the time I finished this run. Under normal circumstances, I would have run down my street a little ways to get to 10 miles, but I got to my house at 9.82 miles and I couldn't make myself go any farther.

This has turned into kind of a complaining post. I don't mean to complain. It was just a really tough run. But I'm okay, though I would rather go to bed than stay up and put presents out at this point. Maybe my husband will put the dollhouse together while I take a nap or something.

AP: 9:20. Splits: 9:35, 9:16, 8:51, 8:49, 9:11, 9:20, 9:41, 9:40, 9:28, 0.82 @ 9:29. I was just getting warmed up (though I never really got warm) on the first two miles, and things started getting rough starting with mile 5, but I felt really good on miles 3 and 4.

 Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Crunchy Christmas run.

10:23 am, 25°F, 48% humidity, wind 7 NNE, overcast.

I was up until about 12:45 am last night. I helped my husband assemble the doll house. The kids were instructed that Christmas didn't start until 6 am. They got up about 5:45 and hung out in my room until 6:00.

Here's a picture of the doll house from this morning after it had been moved to my daughter's room and some dolls had moved in:

Also, for your viewing pleasure, here's a picture of the one present that has not been unwrapped and may not be for a long time:

Now for the run. It was crunchy because I had to run across A LOT of frozen snowplow scrud. I was hoping that we'd get some sun today to melt some of this ice, but it looks like it's not happening.

Here's a list of Christmas presents that accompanied me on my run today:

• base layer pants and shirt
• SmartWool socks
• heart rate monitor
• Perpetuum Jazille "Africa" album

The album lasted almost exactly the length of my run, so that was cool.

AP: 9:46. Splits: 10:12, 9:47, 10:02, 9:28, 9:33, 9:34, 0.14 @ 9:45. Avg. HR: 141.

Super Slow Slippery Snowy Slog.

7:37 am, 17° to start, 23° at the end, 85% humidity, wind calm and then 5 W. Light snow. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground and plenty of frozen snowplow scrud.

Michelle and Michelle ran to my house and then we met up with Carly, who lives about 4 houses down from me, and the four of us ran a 7 mile loop, then Carly went home. I ran back nearly to their neighborhood with the Michelles, then they peeled off to go home and I continued on by myself. It was a very slow run. I think Michelle and I were both tired and it was really quite slippery. This was the same group today that I'm going to the Canyonlands Half Marathon with in March. I think this was Carly's longest run yet, and she did really well.

We saw some bare foot tracks in the thin layer of freshly fallen snow, so there must be a hard core barefooter around here, but I don't know who it is.

AP: 10:05. Splits: 9:48, 10:01, 9:53, 10:01, 9:56, 10:36, 10:11, 10:31, 10:27, 10:09, 10:00, 10:05, 9;53, 9:51, 9:59, 9:54. I wore the heart rate monitor, but it wasn't getting my heart rate at first because I had my sleeve over the watch and then it started getting my heart rate, but I have no historical data because I neglected to ever start the timer on that watch.

Easy run.

6:05 am, 20°F, 57% humidity, wind 7 SSE.

I didn't get out as early as I intended because I was up too late last night. I ran the County Line Road loop. Douglas County does a better job of clearing sidewalks than Arapahoe County does.

I skipped the hill sprints this morning to save time. I've got to get on the road to Utah.

AP: 9:26. Splits: 10:14, 9:21, 9:20, 9:43, 9:40, 9:09, 9:10, 8:55.

Very hilly easy run.

7:42 am, 17°F, 74% humidity, wind 5 S.

This run was mostly on SR 248 starting in Wasatch County and crossing into Summit County. The upside of this is that I was above the smog and the muck that is blanketing the Wasatch Front. The other upside of this is that this section of road has monster hills. From the start to 0.5 was a very steep downhill. This was from my sister's house, out of the neighborhood, to SR 248. Then it was uphill until about 2.25, and then down hill until 3.5 where I turned around, and then the whole thing in reverse. That last half mile from the main road up to my sister's house was a killer.

I ran from my sister's house to the place where the rail trail crosses SR 248 so that I could check out the condition of the trail. It is covered in snow, of course. I might give the rail trail a try in my yaktrax later this week.

AP: 9:12. Splits: 9:32, 9:46, 8:43, 8:58, 9:13, 8:46, 9:25.

Up and down a big hill mountain.

6:08 am, 19°F, 95% humidity, wind 10 SSE, light snow.

I strapped on the yaktax this morning and went out in the dark. I think there's actually less snow accumulation up here so far than in the valley. The roads are relatively clear here, but there was a thin layer of snow on the shoulder of the road, where I ran.

I went out of the neighborhood a different way than I did yesterday and ran the other way on SR 248. I didn't know what I was getting into because I've never even driven that way on that road. I had downhill for a half mile getting out of the neighborhood, and then it was uphill until I turned around at the 3 mile mark. I think I was maybe 50 yards from the summit at that point, but I didn't feel like finding out for sure.

I was going against traffic on my way out, but with traffic on the way back because I was disinclined to cross the highway. I had my headlamp and reflective vest, but several cars slowed and flashed their brights as they went past me trying to see what I was. I got sprayed by a snow plow once on my way back.

For your viewing pleasure, here's the elevation profile from today's run.

Easy run.

9:42 am, 22 to 29°, 72% humidity, no significant wind.

I was in Orem this morning and so I ran around the flat part of Orem. I started out on 8th South and ran east to 8th East, and then zig-zagged between 8th East and State Street going east on 8th South, west on Center Street, east on 4th North, west on 8th North, and then east on 12th North. Coming back, I went west on 8th North, but then headed straight down State Street back to 8th South.

AP: 9:10. Splits: 9:46, 9:48, 9:24, 9:31, 9:29, 8:57, 9:10, 9:24, 8:54, 8:43, 8:35, 8:40, and 0.33 @ 7:55.

I ran mostly on the sidewalks because the shoulders of the road were too snow covered. A lot of the sidewalks had been shoveled and had no more than a thin layer of snow, but some had several inches of snow that I had to trudge through. I probably would have done better if I had worn my yaktrax, but oh well. It was fairly icy when I started the run but quite melty by the end of my run and I stepped in a big puddle when I had about a mile to go. That was unpleasant. I had to hurry a bit at the end because I had to get back and get showered so we could go out to lunch for my son's birthday. I am now the mother of an adult. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Tomorrow I'll be back in the mountains and then it's back to Denver on Saturday.

I'm going to call this my long run for the week. I'll do a short run in the mountains tomorrow and I might or might not get a short run in on Saturday morning before we hit the roads.

Happy New Year everyone!