Weather - 29 degrees, cloudy, snow, wind. Rough conditions, and a tough run today. I dreaded getting out of bed this morning because I felt I had a chance of being sore from running 26 miles yesterday in the snow. However, I felt no ill effects, and when I started my run I was unusually loose and flexible. I ran to the post office, mailed a few Christmas cards, then continued with the run along my normal 13 mile route.When I got out of Busey Woods and was running in the fair grounds field I tripped on a large snow covered rock and fell to the ground in a heap. I laughed as I lay in the snow, it has been a year since I last fell, and that fall was also due to snow. When I got up I walked 100m and felt fine, so continued with the run.
I had no intention of running the full route, but when I ended up at the arboretum I still felt good, so why not? I was feeling as if I had run 6 miles yesterday, so I was not going to complain or question the logic of my recovery. But this good feeling soon faded, and once I got to the South farms road I felt the stinging 15-20mph wind and my energy disappeared in a hurry. I made the mistake of eating and drinking nothing before I left for my run, and now I was paying the price. My legs felt fine, but I was so low on fuel I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I wanted to lay down in the corn field and fall alseep. I had no real option other than to continue running, because I was out in no man's land, and 5 miles from Jimmy John's. So I trudged along in the snow and ice, slipping quite often, but fortunate not to do any more falling.I was running on guts, and it felt good to struggle so much, it was like I was running fast, but in reality I was probably moving at 9:00-9:15 pace.
The final 3 miles were as if I had hit the wall, each step felt like 3 or 4 steps, and the run was never ending. Once I got out of the arboretum and hit the streets, out of the wind, I picked up the pace and sprinted the final 800m, as I could not wait to eat that sandwich! #400
Digital photo made yesterday on my walk to work : 
Bunny's Tavern Parking Lot
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