Sunday, February 14, 2010

64- I love freeways, and hills

Well, the first part of that title is true.  Ask anyone who has run with me over a period of time- I have a "thing" for freeways.  I always plan routes to go above them just so I can be the person that people see from their cars as the speed under and think "wow, look at that runner!"  It also makes me feel like I have gone great distances if I am out by a freeway, even though I don't really live all that far from them...

As far as the hills go, I totally blanked on the fact that although I am at my parents' house and our town is flat, the neighboring town is anything but.  Sooo, I decided to run north to get me some hills!  My plan was to go to a trail about 5 miles away, run some miles on the trail that cut diagnolly across town, and run home.  Hah, it did not occur to me that the trail would be completely covered in snow and there would be a whole bunch of xc skiiers at the entrance...hmm, time for some thinking on the fly.....

Sooo, I ended up running the mile roads in the hills against the wind, (with no shoes, blah blah blah. ;)  14 miles later at a 8:58 pace, I was home.  I'm actually really proud of this run because it was my first official 'long-ish' run back (I say 'ish' because I consider anything under 15-16 to be a medium long run)  After the first 2 miles, I seriously thought about quitting.  I felt slow and refused to look at my Garmin to find out if it were true.  The wind was horrid and plowing on the sidewalk was spotty at best.  My cold was raging and I was coughing the whole time while snow blew in my face.  All the excuses in the world went through my head but I finished faster than I started with an *ok* long run pace for me.  I seriously think the thing that stopped me from turning back the most is the fact that I HATE out and back courses.  Literally, even though I was hurting, it was more appealing to run an additional 12 miles, than turn around and run the same 2 miles back.  True story.  I'm that anal.

Legs were alittle tight after, but ok now.  I think my sweet pink compression socks fixed everything!  I am SO HAPPY that I don't have to work tomorrow, and my parents are coming home right now so we can watch the Survivor Premier that we DV-Red.  Fun fact: I've watched every season of Surivor with my dad dating back to when I was in 8th grade!  Plus, my favorite fro yo for dinner while we watch...sweet.  Life is Good.

Hope all is well wherever you are! :)

2 comments:

  1. girl you go own those hills :) enjoy not working tomorrow...yippee!!

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  2. Congrats on an excellent run and procuring your favorite frozen yogurt (although if that's tomorrow, then congrats in advance). :)

    ReplyDelete