Seeking a better country...

Outside 10k, to Farmington and back.  I wore shorts, 2 shirts.  That was perfect.  The lack of gloves was a mistake.  Air quality was already sketchy, but it was nice to be on the road again.  I had an iPod in for the first time since the Huntsville Marathon.  Some of the songs on my playlist are like old friends.  Foo Fighters Walk came on, so when I got home we watched Thor.  I love weekends.

Easy five on the tm.  It was more than nothing, but not by much.

 I think I'll step into the Sweetheart 5k to see how far off the wagon I have fallen.  I bet I can run under 21 minutes, but it'll be ugly.  Then again, maybe I'll make pancakes that morning instead. 

Yet another treadmill run.  For a change, I worked a little bit harder.  1 mile warm up, then 1 @ 7mph, then 2 @ 8mph, then 1 @ 7 mph.  It's kind of startling to make year to year comparisons...

I'm tired of being sick all winter.  The last few years I felt like superman.  I got maybe one cold that effected me for a grand total of 3-5 days.  This year, I've snagged every single thing the kids brought home; colds, GI problems, pukes, etc.   I guess my luck ran out, or, was all the extra running in years past giving me a souped-up immune system?

I didn't realize the sweetheart 5k was this Saturday.  I think I'll pass, especially if the AQ doesn't improve.  If it does snow, I'll have work to do anyway...making a few hundred bucks will be more gratifying than finding out how bad my 5k conditioning is.

5 TM.  Junk miles, 8:45 pace.  Good for something, I suppose.  It's Friday, baby.  Can't wait for the snow to hit!

BST to Freedom hills, home on the road.  This winter isn't much like last winter.  The actual road is under 1.5' of snow and ice.  Footing was horrible between Parrish and Ricks Creek; I mostly had to walk.  This was a good thing, because my fitness is as horrible as the footing.  I seriously considered abandoning the effort, but pressed on, hoping to find something that eludes me this year.  Alas, I didn't find my mojo.

But it was a beautiful morning.  The skies were mostly clear, obscured only by clouds, not smog.  Just before Lone Pine Creek, I heard an eagle cry twice.  

Biggest Loser run.  I did a pre-programmed hill work out, which got pretty gnarly.  The speeds are always too low, but I finally utilized the 15% grade capability of the treadmill.  Much better than usual workout, and a much better season of BL.

Flu

flu

sick of sick kids, sick self

Enough of being sick, with weird headaches and stinging eyes.   I'm taking tamiflu, and I can't tell if it's doing any good, or if I'd be getting better the same amount on my own.  

Was this run a good idea?  Probably not from a physical standpoint, but it was useful mentally.  Temps crawled all the way up to 40.  Shorts in February; I was glad for my gloves.  Regular 10k to Farmington and back.  I've been on this route so many times, it's like visiting an old friend.

Huntsville emailed and will comp my entry this year.  That email stirred something dormant; for the first time in a while I felt the excitement.   2 marathons on the calendar now...Skyline and Huntsville.  They'll be a study in contrasts.  

Biggest Loser 5ks.  First was was nice and easy, 7 mph.  The second was a bit less pedestrian, 8 mph.  They mostly fixed the show with the red line.  I love that the dead weight goes home, rather than lingering around because they aren't a threat.  Please go home, Gina.  Take your bitter, crying face and go on home.

10k to Smash.  Should rename the show trash.  For some reason, these were really difficult miles.

Woot woot.  I took my green shoes over 600 miles on this run.  Atmospheric conditions were a bit unstable as the run commenced.  By mile 3 it was snowing very hard.  Fortunately, it was a cross breeze for the bulk of the distance.

I ran with a guy named Ray for a little while, and another lady who was starting her 12 miler as I finished up the last 2.  I felt bad that she had to be out in the muck for 2 hours.  Runners are crazy.

Another weak week; but I did shovel 75 driveways on Thu-Sun.  My upper body and core/back are plenty worked out after this winter. 

On Monday, work kept me till nearly midnight, so I had to put this off till Tue.

The blog motivated me to do a workout, not just grind out some miles.  I ended up with a 2 mile warmup, then 4@ 7 min pace, and 3 to cool down.  I covered the display with my shirt, and didn't look at it through 3 commercial breaks on Biggest Loser.  At that time I only had .5 left at harder effort, so it came in okay.  It's a good thing I don't have any races planned in the next couple months; I'd just be disappointed with the results.

So I've been thinking about perceived effort and suffering.  I think I'll tailor my workouts to target suffering for an amount of time.  After a certain point, it's just about how much can you ignore or set aside the pain, and if I don't practice, I won't have game on a race day.

Ugh.  Gina didn't go home, and even worse, she won immunity.   

Another 10k on the tm.  I wasn't feeling particularly inspired, and it took me 55 minutes.  They are miles, but I'm not very proud of the pace and effort.  For tonight, it's all I mustered.

It's weird not having a spring marathon breathing down my neck for the first time since 2009  Maybe that's the problem--nothing tangible to work toward.  But that's fine, sometimes life intervenes.  If running is reduced solely to a mental health exercise for a little while, so be it.  For March I'll set the goal to run 4 times per week, and be closer to 30 than 20 mpw.