Yay!

Frigid air mass. Fierce headwind. Yay!
I love January. Really. Yay!

I haven't had a good run it seems in about two weeks. I don't if it's becuase I'm getting older, or what but this winter is a grinder. January has been awful. Cold, wet, icy, windy, really cold, busy at the job... I mean, really, who throws a shoe?

Today I ground it out into a headwind that at times just about stopped me in my tracks. It was like running uphill, a big hill, for like the middle 1.3 miles of my run today. I'd considered heading out for five. Knocked it to 4.2 and when I got to a point where I could turn and just do my 3.3, took the opportunity and went short. It was yet another unpleasant run, and the unpleasantness stems largely from the conditions -- seriously, the headwind gassed me, I was whipped. I kept telling myself as I ran "this is not a run on which to judge fitness. You are running into a 15-20 MPH steady wind with gusts to 35 and you are laboring because of that. It's the headwind, this is actually a good, tough workout, in a condensed period of time. finish it, get back to the house and mark it as done." I'm done with winter. Done.

Couple to report

Got a nice 4.75 mile run last Sunday. I felt good and had fun and beat the rain. I didn't get out again until Wednesday and did my bread run to Trader Joe's. I felt better on the way back than on the way out -- total head-wind on the way out and a lovely tail-wind on the way home. It's cold today, but I hope to get out today for a quick one. Should be doable.

And, Another One

I got in a 40 minute run that didn't feel so great and I'm not sure if it's because I lost a bunch of conditioning in my most recent hiatus or if I came back harder than I went out even though I was trying to do the opposite. It was quite cold and the wind was swirling and the sun was fighting to come out and stay out so there was some weather challenge today. This was a check it off, run, today, totally.

Headwind!

I just ran 3.3 into a stiff headwind -- I was shooting for 4 but bailed and did my short loop. The first half of the run felt like running uphill even though it's fairly flat once you finish the first 1/2 mile. It's pretty wild how a headwind will slow you down -- I'm not the most aerodynamic person in the world, to be sure, but I can't believe how a stiff headwind makes me feel like the side of a house. It was a pretty evening with golden light and blue sky but quite chilly -- I bookended the week with pretty runs. I almost stepped on a little dead nuthatch -- that would have been gross.