Is It Spring?!

Apparently, the weather gods are feeling a bit neurotic this winter... Ice. Snow. Rain. Freezing temps. Back to warm temps. Back to ice. Back to snow. Back to rain. Boo. I don't love the extreme cold temps, but if it's going to be winter, there should be snow on the ground. Period. And enough that we can all get out and play in it without it melting or icing up every other week. Sheesh!

I ran on the bike path this morning. First run there this season. I hemmed and hawed last night about where to run, but finally Ryan said, well, you're training for a road marathon, right? You should probably run on the roads. I planned to run the Foreside loop, but this morning, it was just above freezing and Ryan really didn't want me out on roads when we were unsure about conditions. He suggested the bike path, and while I wasn't thrilled with the idea, I did admit that it would likely be the safest option. So off I went. The thing was that the plan called for 12 miles. Which would mean 2+ out-and-backs. Not my favorite. But it was a nice morning, the sun was shining, the river was pretty, the thin veneer of ice on the pavement was melting and I wasn't dodging traffic. The footing was a bit tricky on the first "out" but not too bad. I decided to go beyond the end of the bike path for another mile so that I'd only have to do one additional out-and-back. The road portion actually wasn't bad, as there was a decent shoulder and it was covered thickly with sand.

Things got busier the longer I was out there. People running and walking, and a lot of people in the dog park. It also got warmer, much warmer. I was overdressed to begin with, and finally shed my gloves around mile 8. I saw a few people in shorts, which seemed a bit much to me, but hey, it was in the mid-40s, I guess! With all the activity, there was enough to keep my mind occupied and I didn't really get bored. It also didn't get windy until the final 2.5 miles back to the car, which was nice! Nothing worse than that bike path on a really windy day. Ugh.

Managed to keep the pace fairly steady, with only the first mile in the 9:00s. The rest all fell in the high 8:30s to high 8:40s, with the average pace for the run of 8:43. Felt fairly comfortable, although my ankles started to feel it near the end. I guess I did a bit more slipping yesterday than I thought. Still, happy with how the run went overall. It was a good choice.

When I got home, Ryan headed out to Bradbury for some snowshoe recon. Sam and I hung out inside for a while until I finally told her I thought we should get out and tromp around in the snow. She was up for going outside, but wanted to wear her "fast" sneakers and stay off the snow. So we took a walk to the end of the complex, at which point she started to get a bit bored and said she wanted to run back. We ran back on the sidewalks with her in the lead. I actually really did have to run to keep up :-) When we got back to the house, she decided we should do some sprints to and from the door to the parking lot. We settled on 10, but then she did a few extra. As she said, she wanted to "get her energy out." :-)

It was so nice we stayed outside for a while longer, sweeping off the patio and walking around out back. Actually, Sam was really just sweeping the mud she found out in the yard, but she sure was having fun!