Winter Blues

So when I last made an entry, I was planning on doing 4 to 4 1/2 miles on Friday, February 5 (before the "snowpocalypse" hit), and then another 4 to 5 miles on the treadmill on Sunday. It didn't quite work that way.

I did 3 miles on Friday, which meant I would have to do 5 on the treadmill on Sunday. The storm hit Friday night, and I spent a lot of time shoveling out from 29.5" of snow by the time it all ended on Saturday. And I got a notice on Saturday stating that the neighborhood gym would be closed on Sunday, so since the roads were not plowed, that meant no run on Sunday.

I used the treadmill at the neighborhood gym on Monday night, but was limited to 20 minutes (actually, 22) because of the waiting list; I ended up doing 2.25 miles. To make up for it, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym in my office complex at lunchtime on Tuesday. Then we had another 10.5" of snow on Wednesday, which made the roads worse, and I then ran another 2.5 on the treadmill on Thursday before my hamstring tightened on me. So 7.75 miles (and not good miles at that) for the week going into my Sunday long run.

My plan was to do 9 miles today, but the big question was "Where?". I scoped out some local lightly-traveled roads yesterday and put together a nice 9 mile run, which I completed this morning in 1:30:21. Another concern I had was wondering if my hamstring was going to give out, but I had no problem.

I really needed today's long run to clear my head. I was really getting a case of the winter blues, and with a 5 miler in 3 weeks and a half-marathon in 5 weeks, I was getting worried. Thanks to Coach Kevin Leathers for getting me through this.