SNOMG!

Winter Storm Pax stopped by this week and left us with 14-18" inches of snow in Martinsville-Henry County. My family was fairly prepared for being snowed in a couple days - minus a serious craving for Doritos, which we didn't have. #Didn'tNeedThemAnyway

We enjoyed sledding, snow cream, building snow forts, making a snowman and making snow angels. All this trekking up and down the hill, packing snow blocks and rolling snow balls had to constitute some kind of cross training right? Two and a half days after the snow fell we ventured out to go restock on groceries...and yes, I bought Doritos!

35 Days to Go - H and I were enjoying the morning at home while Darrin went on an outdoor excursion to combat cabin fever. I planned to run at some point during the day but no firm commitments had been made. Mid-morning I received a text from Sharon inviting me to a group run. I knew going with a group would be more enjoyable than running alone so I jumped on the opportunity. H got to spend some time with his Gigi and Pops while I went out for a run.

It's What Runners Do...

This week it was so nice to get back in the swing of things after the crazy winter weather of last week. I enjoyed running with friends, got in three runs and even set a new personal record for my long run on Saturday. Here's how the week went...

46 Days to Go - I was excited to finally get to run with the YMCA's Half-Marathon Training Group again. During our discussions we learned about running supplements like GU and other similar products that give you a boost of energy and electrolytes during the run. It seemed like all the experienced runners in the group had very specific preferences of one brand or flavor over others. The bottom line, our coaches advised that if we plan to use them during the race to try out various supplements early so that we'll know what type we're most comfortable with. (I'm going to a sports store this weekend to purchase a variety of supplements and will have a taste testing session soon. Watch for that in a future post.)

We began the group run by turning left on Starling and running around the block. We turned left on Church Street and ran all the way down the the Farmers' Market then up Main Street before taking a left to go down the hill at Ford Street. We continued down the Uptown Connection Trail until we reached the intersection of the Silverbell Trail and then reversed the route. I enjoy running in Uptown and was happy with this route. One new element for me was Ford Street. Running down it was a breeze but coming back up was a beast. As we began up Ford Street our coach Becky yelled back at us "This is just a hill- you all can do this." My thighs burned. Behind me I could hear Richard shouting "Thank you Ford Street for making me stronger!" That helped me pick up the pace to muscle through it and when we go to the top, I couldn't help but give a joyful shout!

Lifetime Record

I am 31 years old and yesterday I ran the longest distance that I have ever run in my life. EVER. It was the most amazing feeling, but before we delve into that I want to tell about the week.

If you want to test your dedication for running (or any hobby for that matter) see how well you fare in a polar vortex. Yes, we've now had two of them this winter. Days and days of freezing cold, ice, snow, repeat. There were days that I longed to run, days that I was willing to run if I had to and then days when asked if I was going to run my response was "No Way!"

After three weeks of continuously increasing my distance with each run I had been feeling great but the past week was just rough in more ways than one.

54 Days to Go - The weather was so nice. Temperatures were in the mid-50's and after publishing my friend Juan's guest post that morning, I was really pumped to run. In fact, I thought about it all day long and could not wait to get home for an afternoon run. An impromptu afternoon meeting kept me at work a little longer than I had planned to be there but it was OK, I'd still have time to do something.

When I arrived home I set out on my run, dressed for 50 degrees, and realized that the temperature was dropping rapidly as the polar vortex set in. My fingers, nose and ears all burned. I decided to pick up the pace and make the most of this one-mile route. I finished one lap at a pace of 9:21 per mile. This was a new personal record for that distance.