A breath of fresh air

Saturday night I bought a fleece hat with a pull down face and neck warmer.  The new hat was wonderful!  I could turn my head again to look for traffic.  (I had been wearing a couple hoodies.  With the hoodies, I had to stop and turn sideways to look for cars.)  I felt free!  I still wore another beanie on top of the fleece hat--Sarah's favorite one with the yellow pom-pom on top.  I was very warm during the run and it was very relaxing.  My legs felt great in spite all the lunges and squats from Saturday.   It was so nice to have an easy run without my layers of clothes or the weather bothering me.  There was light snow, temp 19 degrees, and wind chill 7.

I think I was a bit chicken about not going out on Saturday when it was 1 degree.  Now that I have my hat, I don't think anything can stop me now.

I ran with music today.  I enjoyed it.  I think I didn't have the right songs for me when I said I didn't like running to music a couple weeks ago.  I was listening to my husband's songs.  The running tune put together for me are a lot of fun.  Sometimes I feel like I am flying.

I decided to change it up and a hilly 6 mile loop, which I hadn't run since beginning of November.  I have avoided the route because part it is not plowed, but I was in need of some change in scenery.

I loved the run.  It was fun trudging through the five inches of snow.  Every once and a while I'd be surprised by a snow drift and unexpectedly sink another foot.  But, the view was great.  The creek that follows the trail was not only covered in ice, but snow, too.  Quiet and serene.  I saw a very graceful cross-country skier.  I figured out the trail isn't plowed for the skiers.

A 2.5 stretch of sidewalk was somewhat plowed.   That was a pleasant surprise.  The run took me one hour and four minutes and was very enjoyable.  The coldest part of my run was twenty minutes after my run.  I get super cold when I am stretching.

Will and I ran at the indoor track.  I planned a tempo run, but yesterday's run must have been tougher than I thought it was.  Here are my mile splits.  Well, they aren't my mile splits because 6 3/4 laps is a mile.  The first four "miles" are seven laps and the last one is six laps.  33 3/4 for five miles, I ran 34 laps.

9:51--I am guessing about 9:30 for the warm up mile.

8:57--I felt good.  And thought my mile was probably in the 8:30-8:40 range.

8:52--Felt very similar to the last mile.

9:19--The hardest seven laps.  Felt fatigue, but tried to keep each lap to 1:15.

9:00--This was only six laps.  I tried to slow down to a cool.  It was difficult.

The last two splits are guesses.  I finished the last thirteen laps in 17:19 and I finished the thirty-four laps in 44:59.  I was disappointed that my time wasn't faster, but pleased that I pushed the workout as hard as I could.  Again, my run yesterday must have been tougher than I thought. 

During the run, I was concentrating on a few things:  my split goal for each lap, keeping track of which lap I was on, and making sure Will was happy.  A couple times I had to stop to pick up a toy.  I got very good at handing him crackers and his water.  This is the third time we've brought food on a run, but the first time during a tempo run.

I am grateful for another great run.

Can you believe Jade and I ran in -12 degrees?  That's right--minus twelve degrees!!  That must be a record of some sort.  Definitely, it's a record for me.  I couldn't believe Jade wanted to still run with me.  I was so excited, we hadn't run together in at least a week and a half.  I told her about how I am starting a book club with a girl I visit teach.  Our February book is Persuasion by Jane Austen.  I'm on page seventy or so.  So, I told her all about the first seventy pages and what I knew about the story line.  I told her about how I started a family blog.  I put my running blog address on the blog page.  I am so proud of myself.

After I had caught up on my week and a half of talking, I noticed it felt like my eyelashes had icicles on them.  They did and so did Jade's!  My toes felt frozen, so I wasn't sure if I'd go out again after Jade and I finished our 2.8 miles.  The feeling in my toes came back and I did say good-bye to Jade and headed back out for another 2.8.

All that white stuff is frost.

I didn't trip today and I ran in -12 degrees.  So, I feel tough!

How do you make the pictures bigger?  I went back to Lybi's post on October 29th to read Mik'L's comment on how to post a picture.  But, it turned out so small.  Did I do something wrong?

It was harder to get out the door today.  Because I am so sore from yesterday's lunges and wall sit, I told myself that if I was completely miserable on my run I could cut it to four miles.  I was slow, but the run went fine and I was able to do five miles.  Temp 19 degrees and wind chill 6 degrees, so pretty warm.

Yesterday was tough day.  I got a flat tire on the way to visiting teaching.  I didn't deal with it well.  I didn't know what to do.  Lars's phone was on silent, but I kept calling him.  I didn't think the tire was fit for driving, so I got Will out of the car and walked the three blocks back to my house.  I called Lars again as we walked still no answer.  By the time Will and I made it home, I was in tears.  Lars went and moved the car and then put on the spare while Will ate lunch. 

I called my mom to tell her about my morning--the good and bad news.  There were good things that happened that morning, although the flat tire was the foremost on my mind.  My mom was very patient with me and listened to my morning.  My mom had a hard morning herself.  She told me that my dad was in the hospital.  I lost it.

He's okay.  He had a physical and told the doctor he had shortness of breath when he exercised.  The doctor suggested he take a stress test.  My dad failed the stress test on Wednesday.  My parents were surprised, but still they didn't think anything was wrong with my dad's heart.  Friday (yesterday), they checked out his arteries and a few of them were 70 to 90% blocked.  He had five stints put in.  He'll be fine, but the whole experience made me realize that one day he will pass away.

I cried during my Friday running thinking about how I will have to say good-bye to him.  It's temperary, I know.  But, I cried when I left my parents house at Christmas.  I am not very good at good-byes.

Anyway, my intense Friday, being in charge of Sharing Time this Sunday, a more intense work out week, and the rest of life has wore me out.  But, I did it.  I got to 30 miles again this week.