January 2012 Running - Snow, stay away!

[Veronica]

I ran a whooping 1.25 miles this morning. I missed my Thursday afternoon fun run because of a meeting that ran long. I don't normally run Friday mornings - Friday is usually yoga and nothing else. So, I figured I'd do a fun run this morning.

The thermometer says 52,and I dressed for 52, but the cold northerly breeze didn't make it feel like 52. I wasn't warm after a mile and while I was running well, I was freakin' cold. I've got 2 hills in this mile loop, so I should have been warm.

I trotted on home instead of doing another loop or two. At least it was a reasonably quick mile.

Veronica

[yellow]

What an interesting and eventful run. First and foremost, if I had been thinking, I would have worn my shoes with carbide spikes (my beloved Icebugs). But it was early and, no, I was not thinking.

I run from my house to the trailhead, a distance of about 1.2 miles. About halfway to the TH, a very, very cute short-tailed weasel ran across the road in front of me. He had some sort of prey in his mouth. OMG, he was so incredibly cute! All white with a black-tipped tail. My run was off to a good start!

But then, I hit the trail. It's beautiful today, but we had rain over the snow yesterday, so the trail surface was intermittently breakable crust and ice skating rink. I was wishing I had my Icebugs on. I thought about turning around and running on the road, but I convinced myself that it just _had_ to get better.

It didn't. And got worse in some places. But I committed to it so I kept going. I saw bobcat tracks, weasel tracks, coyote tracks, raccoon tracks, deer tracks, and elk tracks. I came around a corner and there, in the sun on a tree, was a huge flock of goldfinches. I saw one other crazy runner out and when we passed each other we both giggled. I'm sure we were both thinking the same thing: "My gawd this trail SUCKS today but it is such a pretty morning!" It was slow going but, ultimately, totally worth it.

After about an hour and a half of slipping and sliding, my hamstrings had had enough. I was at a point where I could hit the road for the rest of the run so I did, running up the canyon alongside the creek. I eventually turned around and headed back down. About 1/2 mile from the end of the creek road (which does not have traffic on it except for maintenance vehicles), I see a plow/salt truck coming up the road. I got over to the side to give him plenty of room and gave him a peace sign. As he passed, I got hit with a bunch of salt and rock (he had the salt thrower on). Good thing I had sunglasses on. I could have been mad, but wasn't. It was just too nice of a day.

About 14.5 miles and 2,282' of climbing and some pretty pissed off hamstrings but I can think of worse things Happy Friday, everyone.

[indysteel]

Boy, that's quite a run, Yellow. I'm lucky if I see squirrels on my outings. I envy your environment.

On my end, I saw my PT on Wednesday and he did nothing other than some deep tissue massage. He has recommended that I start seeing a female PT for some instrument-assisted deep tissue massage (there's likely a formal name for that but I don't know what it is). He offered to do it himself, but we both recognize that the location of my hamstring injury is in a delicate location. I'm not a terribly modest person, but it is somewhat embarrassing when he massages me.

I am hopeful that this will help in that I always do feel a better--if only for a day--when he's massaged me for any length of time. So, I have a call into my doctor to see about a recommendation and a new PT order.

In the meantime, I ordered a foam roller for home massage. I went with "the Grid" from Trigger Point Performance. I also ordered a massage ball from TPP so that I can use it at work. I used one in my PT's office and it felt great--in a painful sort of a way. Until now, I've just used a tennis ball. I'm prepared to be diligent with both if it'll help. I'm so tired of this injury.

[emily_in_nc]

4 mile beach run this morning. Hot. Still waiting for that elusive cold front. I guess like much of the eastern US, Belize really isn't going to even get their usual version of winter this year.

[OakLeaf]

I lopped another 43 seconds off my 5K PR at Daytona this morning - 23:42. My target was 24:10 so I happy.

Still not good enough for any hardware. It's a dang arms race out there, those gals are getting faster, faster than I'm getting faster! The consolation is that I was over than a minute out of an AG podium. I'd be kicking myself if it'd been close.

Beautiful day for racing - 47° and sunny, not too much campfire smoke. I treated myself to an almond croissant from the French bakery on the way home.

[katluvr]

Wow! Awesome 5k time and congrats on the PR.
Yes it is amazing how the people in my age group keep getting faster and I just feel like I am getting older!

4 mile run this AM to help w/ all the food & drinks I have indulged in the past 2 days. We have company and it's a lot of fun (and calories).
This run felt better than my last run.

K

[skhill]

Wow, Oak, that's huge! Almost 30 sec. faster than your goal... And my experience aging into a new age group this year is that older=faster, around here. I'm faster than most everyone in their 30s, but there are a bunch of women in their 50's that leave me in their dust...

Today was supposed to be a long run. But weather is crappy, so it was the treadmill. I was still planning on going 9 miles anyway, but just ran out of gas at about 6 miles. Weird. I had my usual breakfast, and should have been good for 9 or 10 miles on that, but somehow I ran out of gas early. Maybe the warmer temps in the gym had an effect?