Comes in like a Lion.......

Yes, it is finally March - February is over and Spring is on the way, right?  Well, not so fast as Mother Nature has tossed us another curve ball and it snowed (and will snow more tonight) once again this weekend.

I certainly can agree with Eeyore's sentiments.

I was scheduled to run the Millcreek Distance Classic Half Marathon in Youngstown, OH this morning, but with the very iffy forecast for the weekend, I decided to bail on Friday and run a long run yesterday and my normal recovery 6 on Sunday.  After all, if the conditions this morning in Youngstown were anything like the Greater Cleveland area - it was a long 13.1 mile race.

The gang at the start of this morning's run - and this was before it snowed more and basically froze our eyelashes shut in the wind.

Yesterday would have been perfect as it was in the high 20s/low 30s during our run and while there were still some snow and ice covered spots on the all-purpose trail, for the most part - it was clear (probably 85%).  I ran a bit over 19 miles and while they seemed a bit tougher than last weekend's 18, I did get them done and still in a 9:35 pace overall. My last 4 miles were quicker than the first 15 which was good but partially due to the fact that I ran the first 3 by myself in the dawn's early light and it was a bit harder to see and the snow/ice was hidden.  I was a bit disappointed in how tired I actually felt yesterday afternoon and I forced myself to get up for this morning's run in spite of the cold temps (11F) and snow.  Even though I had to dig out and run in those Icebug shoes again, the legs feel great now which is the real purpose of a recovery run, isn't it?

The rest of the week runs were pretty good considering much of it them were forced inside due to snow flurries and cold temps.  I did have two pretty productive "speed" sessions - one on Tuesday and one on Thursday.  I was tired at the start of Tuesday's run, but I did knock out 4 x (1) mile at 7:19, 7:20, 7:15, and 7:05 even on the indoor track and on Thursday, I ran a hard 7 miler with 12 1 min hard /1 min easy repeats (and I ran many of the hard 1 min segments at below 7 min per mile) again on the indoor track.  Wednesday, I did get outside for an easy 5 miler which was done once again in the cold and windy conditions and therefore not at a breathtaking speed.

Overall, I'm pleased with where I am to date, but also not sure of whether or not I'll get to where I want to be.  Need to get reading more of Dr. Stan's book for sure.

Coach Emily had an incredible run this morning in Long Island, so I'm guessing the storm has not yet reached the east coast.  My daughter, in school in Boston, says that the weather will skirt to the south of them, so LI will undoubtedly get hit with a least some cold temps and some snow.  Being out there in the Atlantic might help though.  Back to Coach Emily as she ran a 3:14:59 missing an American record by 68 seconds and shattering the course record.  A 3:14:59 would be an awesome time for anyone at the marathon distance, and she ran 8 more Kilometers.  Kudos, Emily as you are certainly doing something right!  And thanks for all your help over the past few months.

Things are not all gloom and doom here in NE Ohio in spite of the weather.  A good running friend of mine in Atlanta was recently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor - prayers to Jerry, and Czar Putin is consistently flexing his muscles and currently having his way with southern Ukraine.  It is hard to believe or is it that Russia exercised their power so soon after they were in the Olympic spotlight, but Putin appears to be a power hungry bottom feeder - so nope, not a surprise.  The local Sunday paper also had tow wonderful uplifting articles: one about an 83 yr old woman who finally received her GED and one about a truck driver who rescues strays from the SE US and brings them to adopted owners in the NE US.  There are still lots of good things to celebrate.

Back on the running front, here is the recap of this week's runs:

Mon - Day off; Core class
Tues - 7.5 miles  Done as 4 x 1 mile repeats; Work with trainer
Wed - Easy 5 miler outdoors
Thurs - 7 miles with 12 1 min on/1 min off repeats
Fri - Core class
Sat - 19.2 miles
Sun - 6.02 miles in the snow

WTD:  44.7 miles     February finished with 157 miles which was 2 miles short of January with 3 less days.
YTD:   345 miles

I was also interviewed for the documentary for the Boston Marathon.  I expect my story to remain on the cutting room floor, but it was still a very cool experience.

50 days.

It's February!

It is finally February, so we are leaving the nasty January winter behind us, right?  No, neither General Lee or Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early Spring and well putting all of one's eggs into a rodent's basket doesn't necessarily make sense anyway.  That being said, they (the weather powers that be and they can certainly be wrong) are predicting another storm for Tuesday night into Wednesday with 5-7 inches (and I've heard 6-10") of snow.  I had hoped that because I didn't go to New Orleans to run, that this wouldn't happen.  After all, the first time I went to New Orleans to run the Mardi Gras half back in 2005, I returned to Cleveland and it snowed everyday (1-2") for the next two weeks.  Shannon was in 5th grade, and I would shovel the driveway at least twice per day so she could walk to the bus stop.  And well, my Dad would probably kill me if I didn't shovel in spite of the fact that someone does/will/should eventually plow me out.  One of my biggest winter beefs is that no one seems to shovel their driveways or sidewalks any more.  I guess the kids that walk to school when the weather is good get driven or take the bus in the winter.  Not sure what this is teaching the next generation.  But I digress, I went to New Orleans in late February last year to run and we did have several more snowy weekend runs, but I didn't go this year.  Wasn't that supposed to take care of that issue???  Maybe it took care of the infamous "Polar Vortex" and it won't be single digit temperatures anymore.  I do though remember February, 1978 and the "Blizzard of '78" which kept us out of school for 3 wks and had Massachusetts in a State of Emergency for at least a week.  Then Governor Dukakis would come on the TV screen in his sweaters and beg everyone to conserve energy, delivered emergency notices with the word that it would be alright soon.  I guess all that National exposure as the Northeast thawed out set him up for that Presidential bid in the late 80s.

February started off with a bang anyway, but at least it was 40F on Saturday even in the rain.  We did get to run outside in the sleet, but rather than have a great day, my computer hard drive crashed and now I am typing on a new one and waiting for Carbonite to restore all my back up files.  It should be done by Thursday.  Yikes!  Oh what fun losing a hard drive can be and the computer was only a bit over 3 yrs old.  I guess electronics are indeed disposal these days.  

Of course the 40 degree temps were only a short reprieve as yesterday morning, we woke up once again to about 2" of snow.  I wimped out and ran inside as being a hamster is OK sometimes.  Tonight, I plan to run outside with Army Mike because I'm not sure I'll have that opportunity for the rest of the week.  At least running inside, it is warm, and I'll be getting some heat training for my upcoming half marathon in Phoenix.  I doubt that it will be cold and snowy there (but then again who knows!).

As far as stats go, I did end up running more miles (160) in January 2014 than last year.  I even got in a few quality miles once I started to head indoors.  I do worry that the slow per mile times outside might not be beneficial, but it is about time on one's feet or that is what they say.  I guess that did get me to mile 26.1 last year and I only walked through water stops.

In 76 days, we will see.