A post from the archives for the folks who left this questions in my ask-me queue….hope this helps.
This post helped motivate me to run outside no matter the climes, and a fierce dedication to Be A Chicagoan led me to run the Polar Dash Half-Marathon a few weeks ago. On that one Saturday morning when we had a bunch of snow and ice and slush. When it snowed for the first hour of the race. When my shoes and SmartWool socks were soaked through by mile 3. When I thought my muscles were turning against me at mile 8. And mile 10. And mile 12. How I crossed the finish line, I’m not quite sure. (But the banana, hot chocolate, and post-race shower were great!)
I think the only tip I have to add is…
Just get out there.
My eyelids are swollen. It’s strange and making it so I can’t really look up. (What causes this??)
In other news, I’m going to go downtown and a run a half-marathon in 7 inches of snow in 20-degrees-feels-like-8-degrees weather.
I’m not really excited about more snow. The weather folk are talking it up like we’re going to get 3-5 inches. That’s not quite enough to cancel or postpone Saturday’s half-marathon, but it’s enough to make it unpleasant and slippery and potentially I-will-fall-on-my-ass-if-it-doesn’t-freeze-off-first producing.
I want to do the half-marathon… but I also don’t.
It’s my third. And I know that I can run it, but I also know that I’ve gained a little weight, that I haven’t gone on a run in the past, hmm, week and a half, and that it’s going to be cold and uncomfortable. I know I can finish. I’m not trying to finish in any particular amount of time. I just want to run/walk 13.1 miles in January because I can. But I’m just not looking forward to it at the moment.
I was kind of thinking it might be interesting to run one half-marathon each month this year.
Or is that just crazy?
Maybe I should eat peanut butter and watch more Sons of Anarchy and then go to sleep instead of thinking about how much I don’t want to do something that I want to do and will feel good about and be successful in (and now my feelings about the half-marathon are starting to feel oddly parallel to my feelings about this doctoral program…).
Who am I.
Snow! We have snow! Finally. Kind of a mess to be out in, but so pretty to look at.
Exercise: I went for a run, just as it started to snow. Out to the lake and back, in about 30-35 minutes.
Weight: Forgot to check. But I’m guessing… 150. Since that’s what it’s been the past couple times.
Oh, and of course, just as I was getting all psyched up to run in the snow and the cold and feel all badass…
My next half-marathon has been rescheduled for the Saturday after this one, Jan. 21. Chicago Police deemed this weekend “critically unsafe” for running a race. Laaaaame.
Pseudo-busy day today means I’ll be rocking the 8:30 p.m. run through freezing Vancouver.
This is why you wake up and run.
Remember that.
bendoeslife speaks the truth. I guess I’m waking up tomorrow morning to run in the (predicted) snow. Okay, I can deal with that.
It helps that I just bought some new cold-weather running gear at REI. Really helps.
Way easier to wake up if you just get out of bed when the alarm goes off, instead of hitting snooze. So hard not to hit it - and to get up! - but so much easier to wake up.
Time for a run in the cold now.
The last 2.5 miles home on my run were rough.
Screw you, 9 miles.
I just ran 12.6.
BOOM.
Almost a half-marathon. In about 2.5 hours, including a short sit-down to appreciate the Chicago skyline, a couple brief walking breaks, and a little stretching and push-ups/crunches.
My lungs and right ankle hurt, but damn, that feels good.
37 degrees, feels like 29, and I need to go run 9ish miles.
Dammit.
Wish me luck.
