Christmas Run With Snow

What could be better than a Christmas run with snow falling? Well, besides sitting warm inside the house with my family… but if you are going to have to run on Christmas… having it snow isn’t a bad deal. It sounded rather simple… 9 miles… no problem. I decided to run from the house… so that would leave me without and fuel or water (didn’t take my belt). Again… no problem… I do that a lot.

When I stepped out the door the weather was quite blustery. Bad sign. Wind… snow that would melt on contact with my face… for a minute I considered heading back inside. The gym was not an option (closed on Christmas I am sure) It was either brave it… or bag it. With Bill Bowerman’s quote “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people” in the back of my mind… I headed out. Besides… I just finished 5 weeks on my training schedule and hit every single run on every day. No way I could break the streak just for some bad weather.

Bowerman was Oregon’s famous track coach… and if you know Oregon weather, you can understand why he had to have a nifty quote about the weather… because frankly… the weather sucks a lot here. If you can’t change the weather… I guess he had to change the opinion of it. Well… it worked for me… but I can say that Bowerman, in this particular case, was wrong. There is such a thing as bad weather.
My run called for 9 miles. Even in bad weather I can hold my body heat for 6 miles. Rain, snow… whatever… six miles and I am OK. After six miles is where it gets tricky. On long runs I can stop at the car on a loop and change my shirt or socks. But yesterday was an out and back… and when I started back… I was heading right into the wind… with a full gale of snow blowing right into my face. (And umm… other body parts)

I was dressed in my typical cold weather outfit. Runderwear shorts and tank top, long sleeve poly pro shirt, running shorts, a very light semi-waterproof jacket, light wool knitted runner gloves and a nice warm hat. Again… this is just about guaranteed to keep me comfortable for 6 miles. In heavy rain or snow I can start having trouble after that.

My face and ears were of course quite frozen with the wind and snow blowing. Expected… nothing different than a trip down the slopes while skiing. I was completely soaked however. Then… it started. At first I thought I was having friction pain. Nothing new there… happens a lot when a lot of water and running are involved. But the umm… location was quite new. As I meandered back into my neighborhood with about 1 mile left on the run… the pain grew quite extreme and the only thing I could think about was getting back home to get a sit rep on what the heck was wrong.

When I finally burst through the door… one quick check and it was obvious what my problem was. A particular body part that was quite useful in producing a baby girl (did I mention before it was a girl?) was quite frozen. If you’ve ever had your fingers or ears partially frozen… you know the pain when they start to defrost. Well, take that pain and multiply it… and you get an idea of what I was feeling. Ouch.

So… Bill Bowerman was definitely wrong on one particular subject. There is such a thing as bad running weather… and I am pretty sure I have experienced the worst it has to offer.

2007 Year in Review

The numbers
By the end of this year I will have ran over 1600 miles. That is quite a leap compared to my 625 miles the previous year. At my pace… that is probably over 250 hours of running… or just under two weeks of running every waking hour. My feet have hit the pavement in my running shoes over 3 million times this year.
Fastest mile: 6:35
Slowest mile: 13:21 (Last mile at Portland Marathon)
Longest run: 26.2 Miles
Longest training run: 23 miles
Shortest run: 1 mile (time trial)
Number of times I had to run into the bushes to relieve myself during a long run: 2
Races completed: 5
Marathon’s completed: 2
Major injuries: 0
Falls: 0
Near falls: 2
Number of times I was almost hit by a car: Too many to count.
Pairs of running shoes used: currently on 5th
Runs 15 miles and over in length: 18
Number of times I was honked at or yelled at while running: ~15

The marathons
Eugene
Portland

The future
After gazing into my crystal ball… I see… wha? I see…. Myself? I see myself staring at myself staring into a crystal ball? Oh wait… let me turn in on. Nope… still nothing. I can’t see my running future. I will try to keep on my current training schedule and run the Eugene marathon… though even that could be cancelled if baby decides to come early. I won’t be running Boston in 2008 (haven’t qualified). I will probably be too tied to home to get to prance off to any out of state marathons. I do plan to keep running though...it has become a part of me… but for the first time… I am not exactly sure where it will take me. It will be fun to find out though.

Runners make good employees

If I was the owner of a company, I’d stand at a marathon finish line to hire my employees. What more could you ask for in a workers? You know they’d be healthy, dedicated, in top shape, able to overcome adversity, not prone to excuses and highly motivated. Everything you could ask for in an employee. I really have high regards for the runners I have been lucky enough to meet, and those behind the Blogs I read. Runners are special people… and I don’t mean short bus kind of special.

I finally felt a little spring in my stride last night. My legs have been pretty dead lately… and my pace dismal. I know cold weather is part of it… the temperature is near freezing on most of my runs, but I am not sure what the other part is. I worry that may legs just may not have as many miles as I hope in them. A runner where I used to work told me that he just keeps getting slower and slower and slower. Well… age will do that to you… but at 41 and being a runner for less than two years… my legs should have thousands of miles left in them. I hope. (Said poking my legs)

I suppose it doesn’t help that I take hot baths after my cold nightly runs either. Hot baths are not good for my tired swollen legs… but it is just so damn relaxing. Wish I had a hot tub… now that would be nice. Well… maybe not so much after the hot summer runs.

I recently say the Christmas classic with the witch of the north that hounds Santa. There is a line in the movie that sums up what it takes to run a marathon... 'just put one... foot in front... of the other... and soon you'll be walking cross the floor-or-or!' That is all it takes... just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Dedication... imperceptable progress... day after day. Anyone can run a few feet. Then a few more... then the next thing you know... you are running a marathon.

The rhythm of life

Runners are quite familiar with rhythms, from the rhythm of thousands of strides, to the rhythm of breathing. Thursday I got to hear our baby’s heartbeat for the first time. It is pretty miraculous to hear a few beats or strides from an unborn child on the warm-up track for life. It makes my strides… my running… seem so irrelevant. Eighteen years from now I can imagine myself trying to convince my son or daughter that their old man used to run marathons. I’m sure it will seem like another fish story to them.

Popcorn is good stuff… but I learned this week that it isn’t really good fuel for running. Tuesday I did my 8 miler during dinner time, and when I got back I didn’t feel like cooking anything… so I had a bag of popcorn for dinner. Then Wednesday morning I got up and headed into the cold for another run. By the time I arrived back home my tank was empty. Mental note… choose a better fuel than popcorn in the future.

After my Thursday 8 miler I was pretty tired. I was tired, my legs were tired, and I was running sloooooow. Even Saturday for my recovery run I was still tired. I felt a little better Sunday… until… well… I got sick. Nothing like needing a bathroom in the middle of a 2 hour run. Argh. I was in so much discomfort that I hardly had time to enjoy the snow flurries. I did manage to finish the run however… mainly because it would be hazardous to my health to cut across the airport. The biggest benefit to running faster… is that your long runs end sooner. Despite the discomfort, I wasn’t slacking at the end of that run.

Runs for the week: 8 (with 4 fast)-4-8-4-13. Next week I am scheduled to hit 40 miles… which I have only done a few times before… and with much longer long runs. I hope I have the mental toughness to grind this thing out. I think my body can keep up. I have decided to try make the mileage no matter what… and just run slower if my legs are dead. Time will tell.

Shelter from the storm

About a year ago we had a large storm roll through, that I was brave enough to run in, but afterwards… vowed not to repeat the mistake again.

through the storm

Well… another storm rolled through yesterday, and I was faced with braving the weather again… or hitting the dreadmill for 12 miles. I choose the dreadmill. Unfortunately it was my long run day, which would only increase the agony. I have written before about how time seems to stand still when I run on a treadmill. I am pretty sure my belt is connected to father time’s watch, and the faster I run on a treadmill… the slower time in the world progresses. Those 12 miles took 3 maybe… 4 days to run (it seemed). I swear I can look at the distance… run for a few minutes… then look again and it doesn’t change! ARGH!

At one time I actually started to visualize where I would be on my regular outdoor course in order to distract my mind enough to not go crazy. And it didn’t help that someone with tourettes was working out too… and every time he shouted everyone in the gym jumped. There was also someone that couldn’t quite run on the treadmill right. I don’t really know what their dysfunction was… but they kept losing their balance and jumping on the side of the treadmill.

Anyway… somehow… someway… I survived my 12 miler to log 33 miles for the week. Two weeks down… perfect to my schedule so far. (8,9,4,12)

Running in a Dream

Yesterday morning my alarm went off at 5:45 I got up for my 8 mile run. I knew that it would be cold… but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I got dressed, but before I was headed out the door I heard the pouring rain on the skylights. 35 degrees and pouring rain? Forget it… even I am not that stupid (well… anymore). It wasn’t the cold that bothered me… I’ve ran in -35 degrees in Fairbanks Alaska for entire winters, but the cold combined with the rain is asking for trouble. I decided I would wait until after work and just go to the gym. We have a community center and even though I don’t have a membership I can go for $4 a pop. For the occasional run in crappy weather… that makes a lot more sense than buying a treadmill.

When I got home from work though… the rain had stopped, so instead of hitting the treadmill, I headed out into the darkness around 6:30 PM. It was still cold… 36 degrees maybe, but I was comfortable because the wind wasn’t blowing. It was strange running in the dark the entire time. I took a familiar route just to discover that some of it wasn’t lighted enough that I could see my feet. At times it was so dark, and my glasses so fogged up that I was in danger of running into something. More than once I flinched at something that wasn’t there.

At one point I run through a tunnel… which I now know is unlighted. When I was in the middle of the tunnel I could see nothing around me except… well… the light at the end of the tunnel. It was weird. Nothing but the echoing of my strides off the blackness… couldn’t see my arms or anything. Other times I ran through fog that reminded me a bit of ridding the chair lifts on the mountain when skiing. It was nice. It is one of those times when despite what seems to be forbidding weather, I looked around and thought…. AWESOME! Yeah, it was cold and dark, but it was also very peaceful… like running in a dream.