This winter has been very mild and we have been really lucky. But of course my running curse is alive and well. The last two weekends were in the 40s. Next weekend is supposed to be in the 40s but of course today was -2 degrees. Seriously?

We are getting smarter when it comes to these cold weather races. We got the race just as the national anthem was being sung which means we didn’t have to stand around in the cold weather. This race was at Lake Harriet. We have run many races at Lake Harriet. All of them go counterclockwise around the lake except this one. I hate running clockwise around this lake because the only hills happen near the end of second mile. When you run the counterclockwise way, you get the hills out the way in the first mile so the last two you can cruise. If this race went the other way, I would have had a much better time. I’ll get to the reason later.

Start
The event was sold at 2,000 people only 1,476 showed up.  That is only 74%!  That means 26% of the registered racers wimped out. If you live in Minnesota, you must  embrace the cold. Yes it was cold but you  know what I wore too many layers and was roasting! Yes it was -2 but I was HOT! The first mile went well. I got my pace under 12 again which makes me happy. I’d like to get back under 11s again but I’m working on it. Nothing too exciting with the first mile other than warming up too quick and wanting to strip layers. But I pressed one.

Middle
Mile two brought us to the south side of the lake. Last year this was where the 16 mph winds blasted us off the lake. This year there was no wind. That was a blessing! I was happy that I was able to run most of the first two miles. The only reason I actually walked was a women pushed me to the outside of the road where there was ice. I wasn’t about to fall so I walked gingerly over the ice and blasted past her. I was very annoyed with here. Near the end of mile two were the two sort of long, steep hills. I was running up the first hill and was doing great. But half way up I hit a road block of people who were walking. I couldn’t get around them and once you stop running up a hill it is so hard to start again. I got to the top and sprinted down the hill and started up the next hill where again I ran into a road block. If we ran this race the other way, most of these people would probably be running these hills and I wouldn’t have hit the road block. By running the other way, all the people who haven’t trained properly are tired when they get to the hills and walk.  Oh well. My pace before the hills for this lap was under 11 but with the walking my pace jumped to 12:22. Darn!

Finish
I tried my best to run most of the last mile. I finally got too hot and took off my stocking cap. My head was soaked!  The band shell was in my sights so I knew that the finish was around the bend. I was weaving around walkers at this point. I saw the finish line and thought I had a chance to break into the 36s again so I sprinted the last quarter of mile, topping out at an 8:00 pace to the finish…my time was 37:00.07. Damn, I was so close!

I stood in a long line for water and chips and hot chocolate. We didn’t hang around as I was starting to get cold. Like I said before my hair was soaking wet and the cold was starting to affect me. As we walked to the car, we walked up some steps there were not shoveled and of course I fell and spilled my hot HOT chocolate all over my hands, bib and sweatshirt. I didn’t hurt myself except for the hand I caught myself with. Eric took all the stuff from my hands so I could get my gloves back on. I was so glad to get back the car and warm up again.

I made a critical cold weather running mistake. I dressed too warm, got too sweaty and eventually the sweat froze and I was freezing.

I hate January and February. I don’t think that is the first time I started a post with that sentence. I think it is a yearly occurrence. It gets dark early, the weather is cold, work is crazy and I can’t escape like my friends and family who share pictures of their warm vacations on Facebook. So those four things lead to two months of depression. And this year, thanks to leap year, February is an extra day long. Ha!

As I mentioned in my January Recap post, I somehow managed to get 50 miles in January. I think the unusually warm weather helped. My pace the last week of January was really good. I was starting to feel like I was getting some of my “speed” back.

Well I came crashing back to reality this week. My legs felt like lead. I can’t seem to run fast at all. My pace last week was in the 12 minute range. It made be very happy and optimistic. This week I struggled to get under 14. Yes I said 14. I haven’t run this slow since I started running 30 months ago. You can understand my frustration. I have a bad run every now and then but this was three straight “bad” runs. Sunday’s long speed run was a disaster, Monday’s moderate run was marginally better and Thursday’s short run was the worst. Eric’s solution is “Just run faster.” Yes he is still alive and no he doesn’t have a black eye! It must be nice to just be able to run faster. Sometimes I hate him. Well not hate, just jealous. He doesn’t really train and can go out and run a half marathon like its nothing. Maybe I do hate him? Lol!

Eric has Grandma’s Marathon coming up in June and he needs to seriously start training soon. There is no way he can go run a marathon on very little training. Yes, I know his brother Chris did it in 2001. For his long runs, he wants me to bike alongside him so I can provide him water and whatever else he needs. I’m not against doing that but I don’t want to miss out on my long runs for my Grandma’s half marathon. I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of biking in April and May.

Last night we watched a documentary called Spirit of the Marathon. “It follows six runners from vastly different backgrounds as they train for the Chicago Marathon. It also went into the history of marathons and the appeal of such an arduous challenge.” It made me very eager to get out and run again. 

The weather is sort of cold today and it is windy. Normally I’d run outside, but we got a foot of snow on Tuesday and the icy paths are still somewhat snow covered. I’m not ready to fall and break a leg or arm. So today I’m taking my long run inside (at the high school track). I’m hoping that it will be better than all the bad runs I had this week!

Our Swirl

He is too cute not to take pictures of him. Could you imagine if I had kids how many pictures I'd have of them? Haha!

Runs: 14
Walks: 13
Miles: 50
Races: 1 (Polar Dash 5K)
Outdoors: 17
Indoors: 10
Longest: 6 miles
Average Running Pace: 12:52

My first thought was, 2016 started out terrible. Funny thing is I wrote the exact same thing last January! Ha! But unlike last January, I didn’t wait 9 days to get off the couch! I started on day one with the Polar Dash. It was a disaster. Worst. Run. Ever! (Well in the last 2 years.) I’m not sure if it is the recovery from my last awesome half marathon didn’t go so well or what. But it was just bad. I bounced back the next day and did a short run but managed to get my pace back to an acceptable time. But the next twos run after that were disappointing. Then something incredible happened…I found my speed again. The next 9 runs of the month were great. My overall pace was around 12:30 which isn’t my fastest but was pretty good considering. I worked in a couple speed workouts and I finished the month with a nice 5 mile run. Compared to last January, I had the same amount of runs but I went 15 miles further. I call that a win. Also I did a lot more swimming and biking that I didn’t do last January. So I was a lot more physically active.

Surprisingly the weather in January wasn’t bad. There was only 6 days that the high temperature was below 10 degrees. That is incredible. The last day of the month was 42 degrees. I ran in long sleeves and was dying. I should have had a t-shirt…in January…that is crazy! I only ran inside 5 times.

My goal for February is 50 miles again. We have an extra day this year…yay for leap year!