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.

Energy Boost

Over the weekend Darrin and I traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to attend the Fly Fishing Expo. While in town we stopped by Fleet Feet Sports to check out the available selection of GU and other energy supplements.

The staff there was very friendly and knowledgeable and they walked me through the pros and cons of each type of supplement. They also shared their opinions on the various flavors. The supplements ranged in price from $1.35 to $2.25. I purchased a variety of types and flavors to test out during my training.

41 Days to Go - I selected Vanilla Bean GU ($1.40) as my first taste test. This product is intended to be taken 15 minutes before running and every 45 minutes during the run. After hearing stories from other runners about the gag-inducing thick texture of this product, my goal was to get it down and keep it down. I started off by drinking some water. The salesman at Fleet Feet warned me that you should drink plenty of water with GU. The texture was very thick but if you enjoy icing (I do very much!) you'll like it. I sucked down the entire tube of vanilla deliciousness, drank some more water, puttered around the house for 15 minutes and then headed out for a one mile run at a race pace of 9:25. I didn't have any problems during the run; the GU stayed down just fine. After the run I realized that when the salesman said "drink plenty of water," he really meant PLENTY of water. If you are not properly hydrated, GU will absorb water from your body giving you some serious GI issues. After an evening of discomfort, lesson learned.

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.