running for the holidays

i am always pretty good at keeping running when i go home for christmas, and this year felt quite solid. the highlight (i mean the running highlight, excluding all the company and the food and the skating and laughing and so on) was a ten mile race on boxing day.

i was ... a bit hesistant going in. was i getting sick? would it freezing rain? should i drop down to 4 miles? but nope. i did the damn thing, and it felt good! i honestly think i got sick at mile 6 and my body said "well, this really seems like the wrong time" and just fought it off by mile 9. (please nobody tell me that isnt a thing; xmas running miracle.)

there was also the incident in which we ran past a lake-side beaver, a HUGE guy, at mile 3, and when we came back past at mile 7, he was still there, being huge, and as i ran past i also saw there was a man dressed in a full-body xmas tree costume, running the race (beating me, in fact)... and that was a memorable enough moment, running between a stoic beaver and a racing tree, but if youve been here since the beginning and you remember the penguin who ran near me through the canadian border at the detroit marathon? ... yeah turns out its the same guy.

of course.

the race was on paper a success also -- 9:20 miles, nothing to write home about but not embarrassing to me, and my final time was nearly exactly double my 5 mile time so i felt smart. i ran without my garmin and without music -- just ticking along and not getting too stuck in my head, and i never walked (except during gatorade) and the two biggish hills were not a problem, and i think this was all excellent news.

... news that means i am signing up for the 25k on night trails in early february right???
close to saying yes.
a couple more long runs will clinch that. i will try one on saturday.

onward.

habits!

yesterday it was snowing and i was in a hurry but i found time for 75 minutes on river trail paths, and i even discovered the all season bathrooms, so i think everyone can agree it was a success.

laying down the baseline of 60+ min runs is going well! maybe next weekend i will push up to 90 mins. or at least 9 miles. mind you, we got like 10 inches of snow today... well. onwards.

monday afternoon obstacles

here is an incomplete list of things that cropped up attempting to prevent me from going for a long run on monday:

- my other half has a deadly cold which caused him to cough or sneeze violently at least once an hour on saturday and sunday nights; assume this was as restful as it sounds,,,

- the dog is usually happy to hang out in the car if i drive her to the start of my run route, but as soon as we got there she helpfully vomited on the backseat, requiring us to return home, clean the backseat, regroup...

- it got cold. and rainy. and windy. and dark.

BUT I DONE IT ANYWAY. i left the cleaned up soothed dog at home, i got more warmly dressed, i drove back out to campus where it's well enough lit to run at night without shock or injury, and i ran for a full 70 minutes straight. BOOM. one more in the bank.

i'm going to count that as the first of this week's runs. thursday morning i will do tempo, and saturday i will do speed. go team.

friday morning and saturday night

yesterday morning: i had told myself i was going to do speed work. it was early and my body was unimpressed. but i ran 5k and some of it was faster than i would have liked. there's this park, a mile from me? and it has a .35 mile loop. so i ran to there and back at like 9:15/mile pace, and then i ran the loop three times, at 8:20/mile pace. with jogging about in between. ... as they always say, the best speed workout is the one you actually do. so, that's not a normal one, but it's the one i did.

today: i had told myself i was going to do a long run, right? break out of that 50-mins mold? ... nope. my other half has something that's been diagnosed as not strep, but close enough, and i'm just resting today. i'm pretty sure it's what my body needs. i am going to drink some hot cider with bourbon and sit on soft things. ugh. ... i teach at the gym tomorrow twice, so that will have to be the weekend's exercise. it's 6:15pm and i'm seriously thinking of napping, so this was probably the right move.

eh, you win some you lose some.
more soon.