January | 2016 | It Never Gets Easier

Monday – 1.50 / 15:02 – Pace 10:01

I got back from TX the night before… and the TX storm system followed me home. So I was greeted with quite the winter wallop which was a far cry from the sunny and warm weather that I had just spent a week running in. I knew running outdoors was out of the question… plus I really needed groceries so a trip to the gym was in order. The entire trek to the gym was slippery and I couldn’t help but wonder if I should get Commitment Points, Stupidity Points… or both. And, of course, as soon as I got to the gym, I realized I forgot my knee brace. Going back home was NOT an option so I decided to run without the brace. The knee was rather unhappy with this decision and as much as I wanted to run 2 miles, I knew cutting it short was a smarter idea.

Tuesday – 1.08 / 10:15 – Pace 9:30

PT has become a normal part of my routine over the past…well… three months and this was my “last” appointment. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I decided to do a mini run streak. I like little run streaks because they help me get back on track. I had no time to run between getting off work and getting to PT so I knew I would be running after. The big debate was running at the gym (PT is luckily about a block from my gym) or just run outside. In the end, I decided to just do the run outside. It was definitely cold but luckily most of the sidewalks near the park where cleared earlier in the day… but there were a few icy patches. I definitely never planned to do more than a mile since I have never run after PT and wasn’t sure how my knee would hold up with that. It was a bit tender but only in the areas where my PT scraped it.

Wednesday – 2.63 / 26:26 – Pace 10:04

A little mini goal that I had set for myself when I knew I was cleared to start getting back into running was to hit 600 miles for the year. A far cry from the 700 of last year but considering I spent three months injured and didn’t run much in those 3 months, I knew anything over 600 miles would be too aggressive. With only two days left in the year, I had just under 2.50 miles left to hit 600 for the year and I decided that I wanted to finish off the goal a day early so my planned two miler ended up being a little over 2.50 miles. Part of the reason why I love where I live from a running standpoint is that I live a couple blocks from the zoo… and the zoo parking lot. The zoo parking lot is my winter running secret because it just under a mile in length and always blissfully ice and snow free and very well lit… I only have to deal with the couple of blocks to get to and from the parking lot. Zoo lights was still going on so it was significantly more crowded than it would normally be but I didn’t have any run-ins with cars. I also was further from my water fountain which I hadn’t thought about when I choose the course for the evening… then again, I didn’t decide to run more than two miles until I was already running… so I slowed quite a bit on the last mile because my legs were cold (my thighs and butt are ALWAYS cold in the winter) and I was thirsty. But the knee and hamstring held up

Thursday – 1.08 / 10:05 – Pace 9:20

Work was eerily slow for the last day of the year but even so, we had a handful of small flurries… and one happened as I was doing a final sweep of systems before leaving. So I ended up staying a little late. Since I knew I had the 5K the following morning and my body isn’t used to three days in a row of 2+ miles, I opted to do just a streak keeper. This ended up being a good thing because as soon as I got out of the shower, my boss text me that her and her husband were heading over the bar where I was to meet them for a couple of hours before they went to dinner. I quickly threw on clothes and text Eric (who decided to join us) and headed out. We ended up going to a different bar but it all worked out and I had a great time… even if I did get a tad buzzed which I hadn’t intended on the night before a race… whoops.

Friday – NYD5K Race

I woke up with the slightest bit of a hangover headache even though I tried to kill my buzz before going to sleep the night before. I downed some water and chilled on my couch because my body refuses to let me sleep past 8:30 am no matter what. I changed and headed out for the race. You can read my full race report here. I spent the rest of the day starting the process of taking my Christmas decorations and managed to get most of them down and put away.

Saturday – 2.04 / 19:43 – Pace 9:39

There were several errands that I needed to run and I wanted to finish taking down and putting away my Christmas stuff. The debate for the day was between going to the gym to run my two miles and strength train or just run outside. The sun was shining so I really wanted to run outside but I also wanted to strength train. In the end, I opted to run outside because it would allow me the time to finish taking down my Christmas stuff… the putting away part will wait for another day since I had zero desire to make several trips to my storage locker…

Sunday – Rest

When I decided to do a mini run streak, I set the number at 15 days, which meant Sunday was a rest day. This worked out well since my boss offered me tickets to the Lions/Bears game. I asked Eric if he wanted to join me and he agreed. We met for breakfast to exchange Christmas presents then headed back to my place to layer up (no point sweating like crazy over breakfast) and headed to the game. It was fun and I didn’t really start to get cold until the second half

This race has become somewhat of a tradition for me. I have signed up over the past 4 years but have only started (and finished) the race 3 times. There was a minor issue with freshly falling snow, extreme wind, very cold temps and barely being able to walk (let alone run) back in 2014… Food was eaten instead.

Since this race is in January in Chicago… there is very little chance that it WON’T be cold and I am ok with that. This year, we got a lovely sleet storm on Monday and then the temps dropped… making it actually feel like winter for the first time this season. Go figure… timing…

As I was walking to the race, I knew I would not be running for time. The race is a LP race which means it is along routes that I run frequently and I knew that the most of the course would be covered in ice still because we would be running on the inner path instead of sidewalks.

I also remembered seeing that Tiffany had posted to FB that she and Harry would be running. She has been injured so I wasn’t positive if they would still be there but I decided to keep my eyes open for them.

Even though this race starts at 11:00 am instead of the usual earlier start time, I also knew that the weather and people being far more hungover than they anticipated would mean for lower numbers… All on top of this being a smaller race to begin with.

Despite living near the race, I have already learned that NOT wearing my winter jacket and taking advantage of gear check for this race is just not an option anymore. After making sure my coat could be stuffed into my normal polka dot race backpack (I like polka dots) so that worked out because the wind was brutal and there was no sun.

Luckily I got there only 15 minutes early and it didn’t take long for me to spot Tiffany… Her bright pink top and high ponytail helped. After teasing her (also TX blood) for wearing two pairs of gloves and thus incapable of operating her phone in any capacity, I told her I would take a picture so I snapped one of her and her husband. Then her husband snapped one of us… I totally stole this picture from her blog 😉

We lined up and were off without any huge ceremony. It was slower than normal at the start of the race, part due to ice and part due to walkers NOT lining up in the back…

Harry (Tiffany’s husband) took off to run a little faster but us two hamstring injured chicks took it slow and chatted. We definitely slipped and slid a bit but for the most part didn’t have too many issues… and gratefully we stayed completely upright.

A broken < Insert Body Part of Choice > would not be a good way to start off the New Year… especially before I have even had a cup of coffee.

I really enjoyed being able to run most of the race with her. As we were heading back, my slightly hungover body decided water would be a good idea with about 3/4 of a mile left to run. She kept running and I sipped on a cup of very cold (but not frozen) water. Then I proceeded to walk over an large icy patch that was also going downhill… I didn’t really think that was a good combination

After that part, we were luckily on the sidewalk which was nice and ice free so I was able to run at a more normal pace. I even managed a little kick into the finish (though not much of a kick). Harry and Tiffany were nice enough to wait at the finish line for me 🙂

We hopped into the short line to get our official results as Harry joked he wanted to see how bad it was.

I knew it wouldn’t be a great race time due to the ice but I also didn’t care. This is always a race I just run for time.

Not my worse time for this race but not my best either…. I can live with that. Tiffany and Harry had family in town so they were not able to join me for breakfast but that ended up working out because, as a table for one, I was seated right away.

Which was good because I was STARVING and really wanted hot coffee

The before and after of, what has become, my New Years Day Breakfast tradition. It was yummy… in case you couldn’t tell :-p