I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

8 inside.  I will be outside the rest of the week.  I'm glad.  Most of my miles will be normal miles this week.

8 exactly.  It was very, very cold starting out.  18 degrees, 6 with the 10 mph winds.  I was perfectly dressed--I moved my scarf to completely cover my face and that worked quite well until about 2 miles from the end when I started to sniffle more hardcore than before.  And every time I sniffled I suffocated on my scarf.  So I took it off and I was okay then for the end.

I'm pretty sure that I started running before the watch picked up a satellite, but I'm too lazy to figure out how to look at my map (I still haven't really had time to play with this watch yet).  But I find it hard to believe that my first mile was 10:02 and then the rest of my splits were 8:50 and under.  

Finals begin tomorrow.  I have been grading nonstop for the past two weeks, and I only have 3 days to grade feverishly before I get a little break...then I will be in heaven.  I teach rhetoric to high school seniors. All of my classes are turning in a writing portfolio and then my AP classes will be doing a timed essay.  I will be on schedule if I can grade 30 portfolios tomorrow.  Don't know if that's going to happen.

But the nice thing about finals week is that I have early dismissals for the rest of the week.  I'm going to run at around 2:15 the rest of the week, provided I get enough work done at school to leave as soon as the finals are over. 

Easy run in the cold.  Didn't look up the temp, but it was like yesterday, but less wind, I think.  I ran right before dinner and just stayed in the neighborhood and ran an out and back.  It was quiet and uneventful.

It was a balmy 40 degrees.  I was actually excited when I heard it was going to be 40.  But you know what?  40 is still pretty cold :)

A former student wanted to run with me.  I ran with her once before and was not exactly looking forward to it.  She's pretty slow.  But in the spirit of Christmas, I decided to run with her.

And it was really slow.  Painfully slow.  But once I just decided to go with it and not grouse about it in my mind, we had a pleasant conversation.  She had to stop to walk a couple times.  No big deal.

After about 6 miles I ran ahead a bit and told her I'd meet her at the parking lot.  I did another 2 on my own.  Those two were fine.

We ran at the trails in Mahomet.  It was pretty muddy.  It is mildly hilly there, so I got in some hills (don't be impressed.  For you guys out west, they were probably like speed bumps).

Approximately 6.  It was a day of grading, but I didn't need to worry about the kids, since my BIL and SIL took them to the movies.  So when I got home from school, I decided to just sit for a while.  Then I got up off my duff and ran.  Garmin was charging, so I just ran for time.  Cold and windy, but bearable.

I really thought this run was over 10 miles.  It kicked my butt.

Powdery snow on the ground.  Around 30 degrees, 21 degrees (with wind 12 mph).  There were gusts of 19 mph.  The seemed to only blow in my face, not at my back.

I did a 2 mile warm up, 8 intervals of 3 min fast/3 min slow, and then ran back home about 2.25 miles.  At the end I felt beat down and the wind was blasting in my face.  Avg. pace:  9:04.  (Faster portions:  8:05, 7:31, 7:15, 7:39, 7:59, 7:52, 7:46, 7:58--this last one I had to slow to wait for a light, but it probably didn't make that much difference).

Now it's off for a day of cleaning, grading, churching, and then a holiday party!