21 miles. the last long run before the marathon. three weeks to go. and i was able to run outside. the usual freakish freeze of
january has broken and it is oddly dare i say comparatively "warm" here in
minnesota. it has actually hovered near freezing for a few days. it somehow feels wrong and i cautiously checked the forecast all week in hopes that the bottom wasn't going to fall out leading to another dizzying session at the gym. but alas the weather held (and is looking good for at least another week - still weird but i am rolling with it). so i planned for a
saturday morning run. figured it was best to get it done early and then i would be able to enjoy the rest of the long weekend. laid out my clothing including new wind stopper mountain
hardwear transition jacket that i picked up with work gift certificates (thank you!)
up before 7 but i
putzed around until 8 or so trying to figure out exactly what to wear. ate half a
powerbagel with
pb. and finally headed out the door. with all of the warming and such one would think that the paths would finally be clear. this would be wrong. the paths do get plowed. but they are covered in a decent layer of packed snow that has loosened and refrozen and loosened and refrozen an
d melted and refrozen. repeat a few more times and you get the point. it is quite uneven and unpredictable. there are spots where the snow is a few inches deep. there are spots covered in a sheen of ice for well over 50 feet. and then there are spots that are what i imagine the surface of the moon would be like. so needless to say this was an interesting run. and by interesting i mean fun. and eventful. and challenging. and mind boggling. and painful. and curious. the first loop i ran was 11.36 miles. i tried not to push too hard. i had changed twice before i left the house and found myself only occasionally too hot. i started to run out to what i knew would be about 7 miles when i turned around but then thought better of it since getting back to the car at 14 miles before having water seemed like a bad idea. i am admittedly bad at drinking water when i run and so much worse at it in the winter. (think frozen bottles attached to me by a belt - um
i'll pass). so 11.36 loop. guzzle water. eat 2
clif bloks. by now my hips and lower back are not appreciating shifting moon sand surface so much. just. want. pavement. so i run a short loop to bring me up to 14 miles mostly on a cement sidewalk. something that i avoid in the summer because it is so hard it jars the joints but it was bliss after the instability of the paths. back to the car. more water. and
vitalyte. another
clif blok. decided to suck it up and put on the
yaktrax for the rest of the run. don't get me wrong i think
yaktrax are great but for extended distances they are not the most comfortable things to wear. i figured 3 miles out and back would be fine. started running. stopped off at the
porta-
pottie. yuck. started up the
garmin again. pulled down my sleeve and apparently stopped my
garmin at some point. something i didn't notice until at least a mile or a mile and half later. to say the least i was not pleased. i have a freakish need to have my
garmin say what i am supposed to run. who cares? no one. just me. no one else would know. i knew i would have run over 20 even when it read 19 but i still had to make it read it so i kept running. it wasn't pretty. and it hurt. but it was done. my muscle fibers felt like they were unraveling. and my lower back was on fire. but honestly it's just running. this is what i do. and sometimes it hurts. sometimes it doesn't. but regardless i love it. and i am fortunate that i get to do it.
up before 7 but i putzed around until 8 or so trying to figure out exactly what to wear. ate half a powerbagel with pb. and finally headed out the door. with all of the warming and such one would think that the paths would finally be clear. this would be wrong. the paths do get plowed. but they are covered in a decent layer of packed snow that has loosened and refrozen and loosened and refrozen an
d melted and refrozen. repeat a few more times and you get the point. it is quite uneven and unpredictable. there are spots where the snow is a few inches deep. there are spots covered in a sheen of ice for well over 50 feet. and then there are spots that are what i imagine the surface of the moon would be like. so needless to say this was an interesting run. and by interesting i mean fun. and eventful. and challenging. and mind boggling. and painful. and curious. the first loop i ran was 11.36 miles. i tried not to push too hard. i had changed twice before i left the house and found myself only occasionally too hot. i started to run out to what i knew would be about 7 miles when i turned around but then thought better of it since getting back to the car at 14 miles before having water seemed like a bad idea. i am admittedly bad at drinking water when i run and so much worse at it in the winter. (think frozen bottles attached to me by a belt - um i'll pass). so 11.36 loop. guzzle water. eat 2 clif bloks. by now my hips and lower back are not appreciating shifting moon sand surface so much. just. want. pavement. so i run a short loop to bring me up to 14 miles mostly on a cement sidewalk. something that i avoid in the summer because it is so hard it jars the joints but it was bliss after the instability of the paths. back to the car. more water. and vitalyte. another clif blok. decided to suck it up and put on the yaktrax for the rest of the run. don't get me wrong i think yaktrax are great but for extended distances they are not the most comfortable things to wear. i figured 3 miles out and back would be fine. started running. stopped off at the porta-pottie. yuck. started up the garmin again. pulled down my sleeve and apparently stopped my garmin at some point. something i didn't notice until at least a mile or a mile and half later. to say the least i was not pleased. i have a freakish need to have my garmin say what i am supposed to run. who cares? no one. just me. no one else would know. i knew i would have run over 20 even when it read 19 but i still had to make it read it so i kept running. it wasn't pretty. and it hurt. but it was done. my muscle fibers felt like they were unraveling. and my lower back was on fire. but honestly it's just running. this is what i do. and sometimes it hurts. sometimes it doesn't. but regardless i love it. and i am fortunate that i get to do it.
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