January Thaw

Wow. What a difference 24 hours makes. Yesterday morning, we were snowshoeing with Sam on some beautiful snow, and she was picking up nice, dry fluffy stuff at the edge of the trail. By this morning, the rain, warm temps (up to 46 degrees when I left the house for my run) and the fog had pretty much obliterated what snow we had, leaving puddles everywhere. Weird. And sort of depressing. Isn't this supposed to be winter?!

Despite the warm weather, I was feeling a bit glum. And I was tired. OK, when am I not tired? But still. I did not feel like a long run. Sigh. Ryan told me to just get my butt out the door. That did the trick. OK, OK, I was off. I had 16 miles on the schedule. I knew it would be a road run, based on conditions. I ran through Patriot Commons to tack on a few extra miles before heading out to do the Foreside loop. I figured with a bit extra at the beginning, I should be close to 16 by the time I got back home.

The roads were actually in decent shape. Good shoulders, and not a ton of deep puddles. But it was really foggy. I tried to stick as close as I could to the edge of the road, and luckily, everyone who passed me gave me wide berth, which is always nice. Once I got going, I felt pretty good, and the route was basically flat with two big hills around mile 9 and 11. I was running a pretty quick pace. But I thought I could hold it. And I did, at least until the last three miles. Then things just started to fall apart. My pace went from low 8s to high 8s to just over 9 in those final miles. Ouch. Guess I should have gone a bit more slowly at the start! Or maybe it is just a sign that I need to do some more long runs! Either way, it was painful, but it was my own doing. I just kept on slogging, determined to get those darn 16 miles. And I did. In a bit under 2:15, I was back home, sweaty and sore, but done.

Looking forward to a shorter day tomorrow, and then a day off on Thursday. I think I'll be ready!