dashing through the snow... well, sort of...

Almost all of the snow has melted, but there was a nice steady falling of flurries during my short run. I was feeling good that I got in two runs this week and was feeling good enough to try for a run outside this weekend. Saturday came and went before I had a chance, so I chose today.

I chose the coldest day in weeks to run outside.

Outside... where it was -4 below zero with the wind chill (a balmy 12 degrees above without).

Outside... when a sane person might say, "I have a treadmill, I'll stay inside where it is comfortable."

No.

Not me.

I needed to be outside again. The last time I ran outside was December 9th. It was the next day I "discovered" my knee problem. So was this a bit of redemption of sorts that I was seeking? Yes, I guess it was. I wanted to run and feel good while doing it. But I also wanted to reaffirm my love of running and being outdoors. Plus I wanted to be able to try out some new stuff I got for Christmas (new underarmour hat and new earbuds for my MP3 player - unfortunately with all the snow and ice just about melted, I couldn't try out my stablicers...)

Once I got out the door I found that it really wasn't too bad outside (properly dressed). So I decided for an easy, flat course that looped through my neighborhood - an easy 2.5 miles. I also decided I would use my HR monitor and GPS to see where my fitness level is.

When I first started out, the wind was whipping the snow into my face, but once I turned a corner it was tollerable. I was feeling good. I felt like I was taking it slow and steady. The run seemed to be over pretty quickly, and part of me thought about extending my run, but I chose to be cautious.

When I got back home, I checked my splits... WTF?! They went something like this...

Mile 1: 7:58/mile pace (not possible)

Mile 2: 8:33/mile pace (I was running into the wind on some of this)

Last .5 mile: 8:48/mile pace (more wind and apparently getting tired)

My heartrate was a little higher than before, but not too bad for running a bit faster than I should have. The positive spin on this is I still can run the pace I ran during marathon training. Now I just need to build my endurance again...