More Vile Snow

So all weekend I was all, "Yeah hahaha I totally missed the blizzard by going out of town hahaha, no snow for me, it will probably be all melted by the time I get back, Colorado sun-n-all hahaha, back to nice spring runs outside in the hilly goodness, hahaha..." ah, not so much laughing and gloating now. More snow this morning completely destroyed the lovely outdoor Birthday Run I had planned for 5:30 this morning. I am tough, but I am not running-in-the-falling-snow-at-dark-thirty-tough, apparently. So now I have to either bundle up and slog in the slush or buck up and go over to the rec center for like 3,000 laps around the tiny little track. Either way, it WILL be followed with some sort of birthday confectionary tonight. There has to be something to look forward to.

**Update: I decided to bundle up and go outside.
Did my 6-mile neighborhood street out & back, plus added a little for good measure. Evidently the cold kept me moving and I ended up at 6.8 miles in 48:09. So I guess we'll call that a tempo run. And there was devil's food cake with funfetti frosting for reward.

Nebraska: May the Wind Always Be At Your Back.

So today was slightly warmer and not really any less windy, but the sun was out, the sky was blue, and I simplly had to get out and run. I did my 9.6 (plus .4 walking at the end) miles and still had plenty of energy left. It's the days like this that make me realize that I really can do a marathon, if I just keep up the training. I definitely felt that the half-marathon in 6 weeks will be achieveable and probably highly enjoyable...and I may even be able to keep a faster pace than I thought when I started training. I kept about an 8:45/mile pace on this run, and picked it up a little the last two miles or so, probably closer to 8:00/mile. It didn't feel difficult at all to maintain that pace, so it seems the speedwork really is helping and I am making progress. Course, it could have also been the fact that the route I picked strategically kept the wind at my back about 60% of the time...but it makes me feel scootches better to believe the speedwork is paying off.

Nebraska is really...flat.

I am on "holiday" in Nebraska. What, you are wondering why in God's name anyone would willingly go to Nebraska for any type of holiday recreation? Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing...

But the bonus is that normally running in hilly terrain at 6300 feet and then running on the positively, absolutely, nastily, gloriously! heavenly! flatness here made my recovery run yesterday a breeze. I set out to do 2-3 miles, to just let the legs loosen up after the speedwork we did at the track on Wednesday night and ended up doing 5.2 miles. It was a little windy--damn Nebraska wind--but overall it was pretty nice. Nice tree-lined streets, nice smooth sidewalks, relatively few cars, no stoplights. Nice little jaunt.

Today was bitter-cold and [of course] windy so I took the day off. Here's to hoping tomorrow is warmer, if not less windy, for my 10 mile long run.