Frozen Fish Sunday

Shot out with my normal Sunday morning group at 6AM for a 10-miler starting at Cedar Point Hill. Temps were in the upper 20's with minimal wind (not too bad really). Heading south towards Berea, the trail had a light dusting of snowfall but was clear and had good footing. We noticed from some fresh footprints that an animal or 2 had beat us to the trail. The proverbial worm had been snatched up on this morning... sort of. A quick 10 miles and I was in my car driving north on Valley Parkway to the marina where I was to meet my Team In Training group for a 7-miler at 8AM. About 16 people showed up, which was great considering the conditions. My strategy on these group runs has been to get everyone finishing within a few minutes of each other, not worrying too much about the mileage. Our fastest runners (8 min/mile) would finish their 7 miles in 56 minutes or so. Therefore, I encouraged the rest of the group to go out no more than 31-32 minutes to ensure a total time of just over an hour. I ran in the middle of the pack this time with a few of the newer team members. Everyone did fantastic and managed to knock off at least 6 miles. If I had to rank the group runs to date, I'd say this one was by far the best. Everyone is starting to get to know each other and the act of running isn't as painful anymore.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

As uneventful as a Thursday morning 10-miler typically is, I thought I'd comment on the weather this morning. And also the fact that Cathy was too sick to join us. So, without the glue that binds our little group together, Dan and I met at Arie's as usual except this time instead of heading through Westlake, we ran the 2 miles down into the valley where there were less cars. Reason being, it was downright nasty out. Beautiful snowfall, but heavy enough to make for hazardous road/sidewalk conditions. I didn't feel like getting scooped up by a snow plow this morning. It was cold too. 26°F with 15 mph WNW winds. Wind chill made it feel like it was 13°F. I felt warm up until the last mile or so and it was my face that started to get cold. I need one of those balaclava things. They are pretty inexpensive and it can double as a ninja mask in the summer months!

5:00AM Speedwork

Seems nutty to be running 800 meter repeats by quarter after five in the morning, but I succumbed to peer pressure once again and bit the bullet! At first I felt really fresh because I haven't done any type of speedwork in nearly a month. I felt light on my feet and was breathing easy. Near the end of the first 800 I began feeling it! The legs still felt OK, but the breathing became labored and the cold air didn't help. It took me until the 3rd 800 to get a feel for running hard and the 4th and 5th repeats felt great. We finished the 5th repeat 1.75 miles from where we started allowing us a nice cooldown. When we made it back to the homestretch I saw my parents van in the distance. It threw me a little because I'm used to seeing my car. However, my poor little car has a little clutch issue at the moment and is receiving some TLC. Oh yeah, I should also mention that the toenail on the second toe of my left foot fell off again. That' like the 4th time since I started running. It's never black and blue (or yellow for that matter). It just has never recovered from my first marathon when my shoes were probably too tight.