Ahhh...

running is going so much better!  The first week or so of January was pretty rough. We officially started marathon training right when we got back from our Christmas travels, and the first 3 or 4 runs didn't go so well.

The first long run we did was the Saturday before last.  Think pain - every kind imaginable...for six miles.  It was a beautiful Saturday, around ten o'clock in the morning.  We started out well, but about a mile in I started having intense pain in my right knee.  In all my years of playing basketball I've never had trouble with my knees.  Ankles?  Yes, tons of problems.  But never any hint of a problem with my knees...until this run.  It was on this run that for the first time in the past year I had to stop and walk!  Along with my knee pain came chest, head, throat, legs.  You name it - it was hurting.  I was so scared.  How could our first long run of marathon training be this terrible??  

Anyway, I tried to put that run behind me and move on.  However, the next several shorter runs we went on were the same story.  I just kept trying to figure out what the problem could be - maybe the 2.5 pounds I gained over the holidays? my new shoes? Nothing made sense.  

Finally, this past weekend I had an awesome long run.  We were out of town visiting J's parents for the weekend, but had packed our bags full of clothing options for running b/c we didn't know what the weather would be like.  It ended up being what I would deem "worse case scenario" Oklahoma running weather.  Temperatures in the low 20's with a 20-30 mile per hour north wind.  No thank you!

So, we opted to use my father-in-law's guest passes to the gym in their town.  This gave us two options for our seven miler: 1.  treadmill or 2.  indoor track on which one lap equals .1 miles.  To save you time I've already done the calculations on how many laps that would equal.  The answer is 70!  So, all things considered (most importantly how much we hate the treadmill for long runs) we chose the track.  Yes...we ran 70 laps around this tiny indoor track!  While it was the most absurd run I've ever done (and our year in Thailand provided some pretty crazy runs) it felt great!  Even given that running on an indoor track would lend itself to faster running than being outside in the elements, I was still so proud of our time.  I finished with an average pace of 9:15.  I know to some of you that is not super impressive, but I usually struggle to keep my average pace under 9:50 even on short runs.  Don't even ask about long run paces!  

Since then we've done a couple of short runs, each one as glorious as the 7.  

Last night we decided to go get a three miler in.  Instead of our usual meandering around town we decided to drive over to our local lake, which has a three mile path around it.  It was a little cool, so after much deliberation about what to wear I chose the running tights and matching long sleeve shirt my grandparents got me for Christmas.  I was a little afraid of being hot, but I'd always rather get hot than be cold.  So, we pull up to the lake, get out, stretch a little, and start the run. 

 I was feeling pretty good - cool breeze, pretty lake, waving to other runners and walkers, when suddenly three things started happening simultaneously: the wind picked up to about 30+ miles per hour, the temperature dropped to about 40 degrees, and the sun went down.  The bad thing about this particular lake path is that there is no halfway point or turnaround.  Once you start, you've committed.  So we ran against the arctic blast from about .5 a mile in to about the 2.25 mile point.  It was treacherous at times.  There were moments where it was all I could do to duck my head against the wind and keep moving at all.  But I did.  And the reward came during the last .75 of a mile when the wind was pushing at my back...faster, faster, faster I ran.  At one moment (along with the help of the wind) I was down to a 7:15 ish pace!  I was numb from the wind and cold, music blasting in my ears, flying through the darkness to the finish.

I'm so thankful that this last week has been filled with challenging, yet exhilarating miles.  Here's to many more exciting runs in the weeks and months ahead!