Awesome ice helmet

Saturday's run was exactly as I expected: cold and wet.

But it was also something else that I didn't expect: pretty freaking awesome.

It was snowing and 16 degrees out when I got out of the car, and I felt drastically unprepared with my non-waterproof gear. But, I was out there, running in the elements like one of those really hard-core people you see on the pages of Runner's World.

Well... not exactly like them, I guess... I was still slow.

I only had to do 6 miles on Saturday, since the Denver Half Marathon is coming up this Sunday. I found a knitted ear warmer and a cheap pair of gloves to wear, and I ended up deciding at the last minute to wear my fleece under my non-waterproof windbreaker. I was cold, dude, I thought the extra layer would help.

In the early miles I had a few slips on the sidewalk, but nothing dramatic like a real fall because I was taking every step quite gingerly. By the third mile, though, I was sort of just trucking along not worrying about slipping anymore. The snow kept getting caught in my eyelashes and at one point I reached up to find the entire top of my head frozen solid (seriously, it felt like an ice-helmet). But I kept on running, with that image in my mind of all those really tough runners I see out every winter... When I'm safe and warm and being lazy in the car on those winter days, I always say "Man, I'll be they're totally hatin' it!"... But in reality, they probably aren't. They're probably just as smug as I was last Saturday thinking "Damn I'm tough."

All in all, the run wasn't my fastest ever, but it wasn't my worst, either. It was one of the ones where I felt the strongest, though. I probably was slightly distracted by the weather and I probably could have pushed a little harder, but hey, I used to be distracted to the point of not even running at all in the rain and pushing harder might have led to a serious fall that would have kept me out of the race this Sunday. I'm glad I was out there. Cold and all.

And now, as the race comes up on Sunday, I'm still not really sure it's hit me that it's actually this weekend. I'm starting to get nervous, but I've not yet reached that point where I'm not able to sleep and I feel like I might puke, so there's still a ways to go.

Planets align for Rockies... and ME!

First of all, can I just say... GO ROCKIES! And perhaps equally important---MATT HOLLIDAY is the cutest bald man on the planet. SoxFan had the amazing foresight to buy tickets early to go see Game 3 of the NLDS (Phillies @ Rockies). Woohoo! Playoff games in Denver! I am excite.

Today's run was grrrreat! I skipped Sunday's scheduled run (shhh, don't tell anyone), so having not run since Saturday, I was expecting tonight's run to be more of a death shuffle than a pleasant 45 minute run. I got home late from work and it was already getting dark, and I had a weird blister-ish feeling on my right heel... generally it did not appear that planets had aligned in my favor. So, what did I do?

I PR'ed.

Mile 1--->13:27
Mile 2--->14:15 (darn side stitch)
Mile 3--->14:13
.11 miles to finish---> 1:36 (13:26 pace!)

That's right, friends. My fastest ever 5K at 43:31. And it felt really great. Just like I've said before, the first mile and a quarter sucks pretty bad, but after that, it gets a lot easier. And, I tried out my new sports 'lady garment', and it is just splendid. Minimal bouncing = happy slow girl running. This weekend's Komen Race for the Cure should be a great time challenge and a good time, to boot!

I was really worried about missing Sunday's 30 minute run, but I skipped it because I was still really tired from Saturday's run and all the successful shopping on Sunday afternoon (it's hard work finding loads of great deals on clothes!). So, since I wasn't feeling up to it, I took a chance and *gasp* shunned my running schedule and instead chose to listen to my body---which told me to sit on my couch for a while and drink sleepytime tea and then crash into bed early. My legs felt all the better for it, though I'm not sure if this is a good idea in the long term.

So I ask you, because you guys are knowledgeable in such things, when training for a 1/2 marathon in 3 months, is it better to listen to your body or tell your body to shut the heck up and just get in the miles?

Ahhh... the post-great-run euphoria is setting in, and so I'm off to bed. Happy running tomorrow, folks!