Run Lola Run

New Year’s Eve to remember…

On New Year’s Eve, Val, Steph, John, Jim and I ran the Resolution Run 5K. In the middle of a snowstorm. It had been raining all morning, and I prayed that the rain would turn to snow by the time of the race. I thought that running in the rain would be miserable.

Well, I got my wish, but I must’ve failed to realize that a) the snow would fall as hard and fast as the rain; and b) that the wind around Calhoun is always fierce, thereby making a steady snowfall into a blizzard. Plus, it was cold and I was way under-dressed.

I had my second thoughts, and so did a lot of people—only about 50 out of the 200 registered for the race showed up! I only showed up because of Val, and she only showed up because of me. Once that was established, we both wanted to bail and get coffee. :)

But the gun went off and so we went. I had planned on going for a PR, but thought better of it once we started. Val and John wanted to take it easy since they had a half-marathon coming up. We ran straight into the wind and snow for the first mile. I ran with my hands shielding my eyes. At one point, I thought my contacts would fall out of my eyes, because there was so much water in my eyes.

I happened to look at my Garmin^TM and saw that I had already gone 1 mile. I looked up, and saw that I was already at the playground! I was happy. I had already run ahead of everyone else, and since the wind seemed a little better on this side of the lake, I decided to still try to make my time goal of 30 minutes or less.

The rest of the run wasn’t too bad…I thought that maybe I could run it all and not take walk breaks, but I couldn’t. I took some sporadic walk breaks, including a 30 second about 1/3 mile from the finish line.

I finished in 30:27. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But still it was fun, when all was said and done. I truly thought about bailing, even after we had started. I kept thinking, this is miserable, I don’t want to run in this. But then I remembered Abe, standing at the finish line in the blowing snow and cold, and how he comes to all my races, no matter what time of day, no matter what the weather, just to stand around and watch me cross the finish line. Every single time, Abe is there to cheer me on. I thought about Abe, and decided to keep going. I didn’t want to make him stand in the cold for nothing. His support means the world to me.

Besides, if I’m going to climb mountains, I’d better get used to snow, cold, wind and extreme discomfort. :)

Back to today:

Since my knee is feeling a little funky, I decided to go for a walk over lunch today, and do an hour of yoga tonight, rather than run 4 miles tonight. I forgot how wonderful it is to get outside at lunch—get some fresh air, see other people…must do this more often. At least 3 times a week, study schedule pending!!

My Garmin^TM did not work in downtown, however. I did the USATF thing, and mapped my route. It turned out to be 2.5 miles! My walk home (according to USATF) is 1.25 miles. So, with walking, I got in 3.75 miles today—close to 4. Tonight, I shall do an hour of yoga, and really stretch out my right leg.

Also, my race calendar is filling up!
February 10^th—Valentine’s Day 5K
April 21^st—Half Marathon in St. Cloud
April 28^th—Crazylegs 8K in Madison (so my parents can see my run!
May—TC 1 Mile & maybe a duathlon?
June—Grandma’s!
July—Duathlon?
August--?
September—Iron Girl!
October—TC 10 Mile
November and December---rest :)

Fun! This may not be my summer of triathlon, but I’d definitely like to do at least one more duathlon this year. Probably after Grandma’s, but we’ll see. Fun!! I like doing races.

Ok, time to start yoga again. Namaste.

posted by Lola @ 2:29 PM