Sunday, April 17, 2011

Snow curse

Its official, I am cursed with snow. Or maybe its not me, maybe its one of the other runners! Whatever/whoever it is, it seems like every time I run, snow is a consideration. Its either falling, fallen and heavy or fallen and slushy.

This morning it was still snowing after falling all night. There was lots of it on the ground, and it was chilly! I actually wasn't supposed to go this morning, amazing husband had an early appointment. But that guy canceled due to the 'poor road conditions'. So last minute I headed out the door, poor road conditions be damned. (And really, the roads weren't that terrible, I think dude probably just realized how fricken early it was on a cold Sunday morning!).

I got to The Running Room, and it turned out that two of the instructors I usually do the practice runs with (Wed nights and Sun mornings) are actually running the Policemans Half Marathon today, so weren't there. My instructor from the Ladies Only group usually can't make it Sunday mornings. So there was a regular there who took over the duties. She brought her husband to help (he's much faster as are some of the LTR people). But as it turns out, including her and her husband, there were only five of us! I think a few people were running the race today, plus I bet the crap weather kept several home as well.

But we did it! And we did the longest run yet! 3.65km in about 33min. The first half was up a steady hill, which was hard, but the last half was downhill which felt great. It was hard to see the curbs though, so there were a few slips here and there, but no falls or big trips. The snow was falling, but it didn't feel as sharp as last time which was refreshing. The stand-in instructor didn't have a Garmin on and of course I managed to forget to turn on my running app, so I don't know our pace, but it felt quicker then before.

I'm learning that the first bit of the run is the hardest. My legs are stiff and tired. But once we get going, I feel much better. And of course I'm freezing in the beginning but warm up quickly.

Speaking of which, I think I finally got my outfit just right. It was -5c and snowing when I left the house. I wore my long sleeve tshirt, and was going to wear my fleece jacket, but thought better of it and wore my thin fleece vest instead. Topped that with my new running jacket, a toque and some mitts. I was freezing as we walked over to our start point, I couldn't wait to get going. But other then taking off my mitts in the last third, I was quite comfortable for the rest of the run. I didn't even open the breeze flaps under the arms of my jacket. So I'm very happy I didn't wear too much.

I'm eyeing up the summer clothes that keep arriving every time I go to The Running Room, but just can't commit to a cute little tank top when it looks like Christmas. However these days will be behind me soon, and I will need to start thinking about some cooler options! And of course, I need to start deciding what I want to wear to my first 5K!! I'm thinking capris and a cute short sleeve, something bright and cheerful!

1 comment:

  1. you know, if you moved back to Vancouver, you wouldn't have these issues with snow.

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