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January 15, 2005
Definitely January
After two weeks of unusal January weather, winter showed its face today. Two days ago, it was nearly 70 degrees out. Yesterday a front came through bringing heavy rain and dropping temperatures. This morning it was 26 degrees when I woke up to get ready for the 7 AM long run. Even though it has been on the warm side, I have been on the chilled side most of the time. This morning I was freezing!
Getting in bed really early last night was a great help in feeling better. Only getting four hours of sleep on Thursday night was not a good idea. Then having some serious problems going to work (more about that later) left me absolutely, positively wiped out. As always, once I got moving I was feeling pretty decent.
Today I think that I ended up with just the right amount of clothing on (for me). I was chilly early on, but pretty comfortable for most of the run. My plan/goal was to run for 80 minutes this morning. Our local stud showed up...whenever she runs with us, the pace is ridiculous. The group I was with was her and four other guys. One of the guys surges up every hill and then backs off, which I find a little bit annoying. We encountered a few icy patches, but nothing too bad. There are quite a few tough hills on this course, about two and a half miles of trail, and finally in the last three miles a very long and steep hill. Two months ago when we ran this course, we finished in 77 minutes and change on a day that was much warmer and not nearly as windy. We got back in just over 78 minutes, so we were definitely hauling this morning. There was a section that we had to back off the pace since someone had to take a potty break and let him catch up again. At first I was thinking that I was running really slowly, but when we finished and I saw the time, I realized how fast the pace was this morning. I jogged around the parking lot to hit 80 minutes on the nose.
I have a difficult time getting used to the cold weather. It takes my body quite a bit of effot to stay warm, so having energy to run fast in the cold is difficult for me. I know others whose bodies freak out on days like Thursday. For me, warm weather is not too difficult to get used to running in.
After the run I went to the gym and rode the bike for 60 minutes and lifted. For the first 20 minutes that I was on the bike my fingernails were still purple from being so cold while running. Lifting was pretty decent, the crowds are starting to taper off which is nice.
Today requires lots of laundry and cleaning before getting ready to go to a wedding this evening. I need to paint my toenails and if time is available, my fingernails. The toes are a definite, no one wants to look at my misshapen toe nails!
Yesterday I ran out of gas when driving to work. I knew that I needed to buy gas, but thought that I had enough to make it to work and stop at the cheap station on the way home. As I was getting on the Interstate, I realized that I was no longer in control of the car. It was pouring rain and I was on the entrance ramp with nowhere to go. I put the car in neutral and coasted on the highway into the shoulder. Then I called my parents to help me and called work to let them know I was going to be late and something was wrong with my car. All of the lights on the control panel had come on and I thought that something had happened with all of the water from the rain. My poor father came out and had to tow me in the pouring rain. He and I had a little tiff, but I explained that the light came on when I was coming home from the track and there was no place to buy gas at midnight. I was scared to death since I was sitting on the highway in the pouring down rain with trucks blowing by me at 75 miles per hour. Thankfully, everything ended up being OK. The lesson learned is when my gas light is on, I need to get fuel ASAP!
Posted by Blondie at January 15, 2005 12:02 PM