Running in a Winter Wonderland: December Runs

[skhill]

It was 58F and humid at 6am today!! I dressed for the weather, not the calendar, this time; shorts and short sleeves and bare head. Did about 5.5 miles at an 8:35 pace. With all this speed lately, I'd like to get in one more race this year, but it doesn't look like it'll happen. My December Saturdays are pretty full. Oh well. There's the Jan 1 5 miler to look forward to...

[GLC1968]

I did do some running during this event, so I'm counting it here.

Sunday night, I did the Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon in Las Vegas. I had to walk it since I was only cleared to run a few weeks ago, but boy...walking a half SUCKS. I was with two wonderful friends who kept me company despite my need to actually walk slower than a normal person. After the half-way point, I couldn't take the walking anymore and we started adding in run intervals. We started with run 1 min, walk 9 but the run interval was too short. So we went to 2/8 and then I felt like the walk interval was too long. So we settled on 3/3 for the remainder of the race until the last 1/3 mile or so where we just ran to the finish. Ran is a relative term of course, as my pace was closer the walk pace of my longer-legged friend!

When asked if I was glad that I did it, all I could muster was a 'I'm glad that it's done". I can say with all honesty that I'll never do that again. If I can't run a 1/2 marathon for some reason, then I'll just skip it. Walking for that long was rough!

The good news is that I feel amazingly good today (about 40 hours later) considering how awful I felt at the finish line! My legs are only pleasantly tight and my calves are a bit achy. My injured/recovered foot is sore, but not unbearably so...and I'm looking forward to getting back into run shape again.

[indysteel]

Good job, GLC. Frankly, given what you went through the last year, walking a HM sounds like challenge enough. Good job on your run/walk!

[Tri Girl]

Congrats GLC!!! SO proud of you for finishing even tho it sounded like a slog to the finish line! I agree- walking that far is hard. I had to walk half of the marathon I did last month and it not only took FOREVER, but it hurt worse than running that long (of course I hadn't trained for walking so maybe that was part of it). Congrats on your strong finish!!!!

[Crankin]

Congrats, GLC.
I walked 11.5 miles in the Walk for Hunger a few years ago; the recovery was longer than after anything else I've done, including a century...

[SadieKate]

Excellent, Wilma!

[OakLeaf]

Wow GLC, nicely done. It's been a Very Long Time since I've walked anything close to that distance, but I know how my muscles feel when I walk a much shorter unaccustomed distance, now. Heck, I still remember when I was 17 and coming back from a knee injury, got home from college and walked yeah probably 10 miles for transportation, and then could hardly get out of bed for three days...

+1 on the unseasonable weather. Hard to complain when you're in it, but it's scary and not right. At least I was fully covered for my 12.5 today (no hat though), which is more than I can say for the 11 I did on Monday in shorts and short sleeves...

18 weeks out from Boston. The tough part of the training is right around the corner and I'm just praying my body holds together for it.