snow day!
i woke up this AM and my (teacher) wife already had the television on. as i was walking downstairs i heard her yelp for joy and i spotted her doing a little jig in front of the tv, which only meant one thing…snow day! rather than taking the opportunity to play bumper cars i opted for a vacation day and went back to bed.
after round one of shoveling, i geared up for a late afternoon constitutional. i grabbed my "yak-trax" for some extra traction and headed out the door. temps were in the low 30’s, which felt very comfortable considering recent history. i improvised a 5K loop around the neighborhood to avoid too much traffic and ran it twice. it was entertaining to see all the christmas lights on in the neighborhood since most aren’t on in the wee hours of the morning when i’m normally out and about. in all, i mustered 6.25 miles at a very leisurely pace and went back to work with round two of shoveling.
weekend report
saturday i got out later in the afternoon and ran 8 miles mostly on university avenue. lots of hills and a bit of slippery footing made the effort challenging.
sunday afternoon i pried myself off the couch after the GB game and got geared up. before heading out the door, i got a phone call from a DAL fan who had to rub it in about them beating my lowly lions. i headed west down madison and did a loop around frame park before heading back to casa cameron. after improvising a few extra tenths of a mile, i stopped my watch with 8 miles completed.
this morning i rolled out of bed and geared up with temps in the upper teens. i improvised a route based on a hybrid of two "normal" routes and mustered seven miles. i opted for running with my ipod this morning (and sunday’s effort) to keep my mind occupied. as much as i enjoy running in the cold, it’s awful boring…especially with no snow plows to dodge!
130 miles to run in 21 days. 10K per day average.
MTD – 50
YTD – 1870
Odometer – 26,208
TGIF
i rolled myself out of bed this morning and got ready to head out for my morning constitutional. temps were a balmy 25 degrees with a fresh layer of snow. i headed down comanche then up university to uw-waukesha and pretty much avoided the snow plows. after three miles i turned around to head back south and realized i had turned into the wind. it’s less comfortable running into a headwind after working up a sweat but with the temps being sort of moderate, i could handle it. i was a little faster heading back home as it is mostly downhill. after stopping my gps watch at 6 miles (at a very slow pace) i opened the garage and put the trash out on the curb.
double down
i brought along gear and hit the treadmill after work for five miles. my wife & kids were planning to go to the roller rink for skating lessons and i need miles. my effort took 39:20 after which i quickly showered and started to head home before the snow accumulated too much.
i just checked and on today’s date, last year i had the same YTD miles…and still was able to hit 2000 for the year.
MTD – 21
YTD – 1841
Odometer – 26,179
now that’s brisk!
i rolled out of bed this morning and dialed up weather.com to find that the temperature was 4 degrees – fahrenheit – in waukesha. i geared up with a balaclava in addition to my hat plus my new underarmor cold gear gloves. for my torso i went with the nike dri-fit compression shirt plus the craft zip turtleneck topped off with my asics jacket. on the legs, i went with the nike dri-fit tights plus my asics windpants.
why all the fuss about gear? honestly, it’s what makes 4 degrees reasonable to run in.
i walked out the door and (not so) patiently waited for my gps to sync. the sky was clear with the big dipper right overhead and the moon hanging low to the south. i moseyed down comanche and picked up the glacial drumlin trail heading towards wales. the trail was fairly well plowed out but when i came up on CTH TT, large mounds of snow were on either side of the trail due to the snow plows on the road. i carefully climbed over each mound and kept heading west. after i was out about 1.25 miles down the trail, the plowing was less obvious. i ended up turning around shortly thereafter and began the trek home.
by this time, my eyelashes began to freeze together due to sweat plus cold temps. i tried blinking more frequently which helped initially but became less and less effective. i navigated my way back up the hill on comanche and went straight in the front door of my house. glancing at my reflection in the mirror, i noticed not only that my eyelashes were frozen but that my hat had ice deposits coving it.
regardless, i mustered six miles in about 52 minutes and hit the shower.