Really? It's March!

Since my last posting, I had a couple of lousy weeks ending with a 12 miler in/on the snow that was just absolutely futile.  I was so tired and annoyed by how lousy I felt that I decided to shut it down for a few days.  So in spite of Boston being just weeks away (hard to believe at it is still snow covered and really cold!), I shut it down and took three days off with complete rest - no running, no yoga, no weights, no core class - nothing, nada.  And well.........

It worked!  The rest did indeed help as my runs on Wednesday (outside) and Thursday (inside) were much better even though they were at a relatively easy pace.  I still don't feel 100% and always have to laugh when I feel winded after carrying the laundry upstairs (LOL).  I also broke down and went to the doc in a box to see what the deal was with my continued congestion, etc. which had been really bugging me since before New Orleans.  She gave me a prescription for a z-pack and Flonase, and well after the week, it too worked.

I was a bit apprehensive about Saturday's upcoming long run, but I knew that I could always rely on my local running Peeps to pull me through.  And following Tim's wise advice, "You need to run slow to run fast", I ran 18 relatively unscathed miles.   It was cold - very cold, in that when we started it was -6F, but we ran on the road for all but 2-3 miles which kept us on dry pavement for the most part.  We did venture onto the all purpose trail in the busy section where it is a cut through and up the hill where there is a blind curve.  It was cold but my thumbs were the only cold part of my body after about 6 miles, and then after that, nothing was cold.  The sun came out and it did warm up, but we still stopped at the heated golf course bathroom - they have xc ski rentals and such so it is open - to get water since all of our water bottles pretty much froze.  Most of the group only did 16 and when we got to 3 miles left (for them, 5 for Tim & I), we dropped the pace, and Tim & I maintained that pace right through the final 5 miles even with two on the snowy path.  Now we were not breaking any records as it took us 2:59 to run the 18 miles, but our pace for the first 8 averaged around 10:10 and our overall final pace was 9:58 - so you can see that we did drop it down.  Tim is by far one of the smartest runners that I know and with his help (and the help of others back in 2013), I am where I am today. Thanks to all my peeps (Elaine, Christine, Mike, Zoe, Tom) for Saturday's run - I would not have done it without you!

Woke up on Sunday though to about an inch of snow and lots of slush, so I decided to wait and run inside later (Rec center doesn't open until 11) and I was glad that I did.  Chuck was up there running his recovery run and although he is faster than I, we started together and I was surprised at my HR and the pace.  I ran 5 miles at an 8:40 average and it felt easy.  Not only that, my HR never strayed above the range I was looking for.  I guess there is something to be said for rest.

Well Cleveland seem to have missed the weather that is plaguing most of the country just south and east of us. We did have a bit of snow/ice/rain on Tuesday and we were worried that it would freeze over by the time our group meets so we decided to run our workout inside.  I'm still dialing it down a bit, so I was only going to do one harder mile and the rest as a Progression Run which I did pretty successfully even on the indoor track where it seemed like a bit of a NASCAR track with all the people who seemed to feel they had to run inside as well.  

Turned out that we missed the bad stuff and it stayed warm enough that I ran outside yesterday and it was almost 30F!  Of course, the white/gray/ice and crap has not melted and the sidewalks for the most part are still covered with the crap where the laziest feel like they do not need to shovel (grrr).  It is tricky running along the roads when the cars seem like you should be on the sidewalk (because there is one) and not in the shoulder (which is actually wide for bikes!).  So 5 mile went by easily enough which was nice.

Decide that although it is much colder today, most of the roads and any shoveled/plowed sidewalks/paths are clear, so I'm going to head out later today before I work with my trainer for another easy 5 or so miles.  I'm set to run long(ish) tomorrow which might be interesting since we are going down to 1-2F tonight, but at least we will have no white stuff falling from the sky.  It was/is either that or run long(ish) in 80F temps in the Bahamas.  Frankly, it might seem odd but running long (ish) in single digits temps actually seems easier! LOL.

Off to the Bahamas on Saturday and into a mini-taper before the NYC Half Marathon on Sunday the 15th.  Looking forward to the half as I'm feeling recovered finally.

On a related Boston note, the Boston Bomber trial has resumed and its a weird one.  The defense basically stated that the scumbag is indeed guilty and really all the trial is about is the death penalty or not.  I'm still really on the fence here as if he gets the death penalty there are no appeals (no doubt of guilt or innocence or insanity pleas), but does he suffer enough?  One of the victims took the stand yesterday and shared a letter that she wrote as facing him made her stronger and no longer afraid.  He wouldn't even look here in the eye. We will never forget, scumbag - Boston Strong!