Going Long (again) in 2024

6 easy miles; 8:44 pace.  Light rain and cool at 4C/39F.

Well, my sister ran her second Half on the weekend and did a fabulous job.  She had 3 goals:  run faster than her 1st one, come in under 2:15, and no walking.  She hit all three.  Finished in 2:11, cutting 16 minutes off her previous record.  Way to go Cindy!

Easy run; 8:46 pace.  A bit warmer at 4C/40F - was able to run in my shorts.

AND, I got my official Boston Marathon acceptance card in the mail!  It's real.

Easy run; 8:38 pace.  Clear sky - the stars were brilliant.  But getting colder.  Just -4C/25F.  Getting to the point where gloves are not enough to keep my fingers from going numb.

Easy run at an average 8:44 pace.  It felt a lot warmer today, even though it was only 0C/32F.  Foggy.  

I finally got a small canister of dog spray.  I've had too many close calls, and this gives me an added layer of safety.  Sure wish they sold car spray - it's the cars that are the biggest risk.  And it seems worse in daylight - at least in the dark, my strobe light is pretty hard to ignore.

Easy 8:38 pace.  Nice to have the extra hour of sleep.  Now instead of running in total darkness, I get to enjoy the lightening sky and then the sunrise.

A bit of a longer run at a bit of a faster pace:  8:14/mile.

I'm going to sit here, in the 40 mile/week range, for the next 6 weeks, leading up to the start of my Boston Marathon training.

One of my parishioners qualified for Boston this past weekend at the Hamilton Marathon.  Way to go Jacques!  Too bad it's for the 2018 race.  Then again, maybe I'll be there for that one too!

Easy run; 8:47 pace.  

Gorgeous sunrise.  And a lot warmer than it has been.  All the way up to 8C/46F.  

Easy run at a pace of 8:43.

Easy run; 8:36 pace.

Getting colder, and a strong North wind to boot.  With the windchill, it's -8C/19F.  Wind blowing at 56km/h (35mph).  I broke out my running vest for the run - so up to 2 layers now.

Easy run; 8:41 pace.  Graduated to running in a touque, as it continues to get colder - my ears appreciated it.

Easy run on a gorgeous morning - absolutely still and 3C/38F.  8:47 pace.

Easy run at a pace of 8:48.  No wind, 4C/39F, a gorgeous super moon set, and an equally stunning sun rise.  Good way to start the day.

Easy paced run; 8:55/mile.

Easy miles; 8:44 pace.  

For the Boston Marathon training, the Hanson's recommend sprinkling strides and hill bursts in during some easy runs.  So, even though I'm not in my training cycle yet, I decided to start those.  Threw in 4.  I was surprised how good it felt to run fast.  I had forgotten.

Warmed up enough to run in just shorts.  That will likely be short lived, as they are calling for snow by the weekend.

Easy run at a pace of 8:27.  I ran mile 5 at 7:27, just to get a sense of how marathon pace felt.  Felt too good, obviously, as I ran it about 15 seconds too fast.  I'll have to get that under control once I get into training.

First time since I started running with dog spray that I took the safety off and got ready to spray.  But the dog backed down and I didn't have to hit it.  It made me feel a lot safer by having that protection with me, however.

Easy run; 8:37 pace.  Likely the last day for shorts.  Temperature is supposed to drop considerably, and snow is on the way.  Joy.

Almost didn't make it out this morning.  Storm blew in over night, as predicted.  I could hear it howling outside during the night, and then the power went off at 2am.  By 5am, when I'm normally up, it was still out, and I was anxiously wondering where my morning coffee would come from while I was tucking deeper into my covers as my electrically heated house was getting pretty cold.

At 5:15, the power came back on.  Hurray!  I quickly made a cup of coffee, just in case. It was -17C/1F with the windchill (outside - my house didn't get THAT cold). The wind was blowing from the North at 40-60 kmh/25-37 mph.  So, okay, no shorts today.

Because of the wind, the snow was pretty much blown off the roads, so at least I didn't have that to worry about.  But man, were they icy!  Between running on the ice and fighting the wind, it felt like a real work out.  

Part of my route took me through an area where the power was still out.  Dark!  I passed the hydro workers at one spot working on a line, and a couple of cops further along at an accident site.  I also made a slight detour to my Church to reset the security system which was thrown off due to the outage.

Anyway, even though it didn't feel easy, it was still just an easy 8:48 pace.

Another cold one, with a strong North wind.  With wind gusts at 35 mph, it was -17C/2F.  Not bad running with it; not so great going into it.

I had an early morning appointment to have my truck undercoated in town, so I ran from the garage, up to the University, around the track 8 times, and then down to Lake Ramsey, and back to the garage.  Lots of hills, icy, and of course windy.

Managed to average a pace of 8:49.

Oh, learned that if you run with your cellphone loose in your jacket pocket, you should turn it off.  The jostling meant I made 2 phone calls (both numbers did not connect, fortuantely) and send a weird e-mail to my mother, which I just now had to sort out with her.

The best is yet to come - my monthly massage is later this morning.

Easy 8:48 pace.  Same cold North wind as the last 2 days.  Maybe starting to diminish a bit.  Tomorrow should be better in that regard.  Only a little snow on the ground, unlike some of the places nearby that got dumped on.

Easy run with 6 striders thrown in along the way.  8:34 average pace.

Easy paced run on the snowy roads; 8:48 average.

Had toyed with the idea of making the long trip to Detroit for yesterday's Turkey Trot, but opted to stay home.  Good thing.  The weather between here and there was terrible.  Plus I ended up having a funeral to celebrate here anyway.  So, took my regular Thursday day off.

A little sore in the groin area from pushing hard with Wednesday's striders.  Will have to take it easy until that clears up.  It's annoying when running, but not dibilitating.

Almost hit the treadmill today because the roads look pretty rough.  However, ended up outside and it's not too bad.  Just have to watch the footing a bit more on all the slush and ice.

Easy run; 8:47 pace.  Still pretty icy out there, so really need to pay attention to the footing.

Easy paced run; 8:36.  Still a dull ache from that groin strain, but then again, it has only been 4 days.

Easy run; 8:36 pace.  Warming up a bit - all the way to -1C/31F and not much wind, so great for running.  Still icy in places.

I reluctantly took it to the treadmill today for my easy run.  It's raining pretty hard, and has been all night - lots of water on the roads, and cold at 1C/34F.  I even stepped outside, thinking it was okay.  But I decided it would be safer inside today.  Ah well.

Back outside today for this easy run; 8:50 pace.  Heavy fog.  My headlamp made it extra eerie looking.