you get out of it what you put into it

I ran 5.5 miles alone!  I rarely run alone; if I do it's normally a measly 2 miles or so.  Today's run is the farthest I've ever run at once.  Ever.  I'm quite proud of myself... even if it was quite slow.  Maybe I am actually starting to take this more seriously???  If running alone I normally go in the neighborhood by my house.  I don't enjoy it at all but it is a safe place to pound the pavement.  Well today as I was getting ready I remembered an old railroad track that cuts the neighborhood in half.  When I was younger and this wasn't a neighborhood but was cotton fields (yes, Alabama is still the land of cotton) my brother and I used to ride our bikes on it.  So when I was in the neighborhood for my normal 2 mile run I instead turned right onto what I've always been told used to be an old railroad track.  It had 2 "creek crossings" one of which I managed to get wet at both going and coming back.  That was fun in 28 degree weather (windchill of 20 with brutal winds).  The trail starts off being surrounded by houses on both sides but then moves onto cotton fields, a nursery, and a cow pasture (nothing like the fresh smell of manure).  It is mostly a dirt road with some muddy sections that were pretty well frozen today.  The highlight of my run was almost getting hit by a kid on a 4-wheeler.... ahhhhh, I love living in the country!

I am embarrassed to write down my official time.  But I figure I'll never improve if I don't put it down to look back on as motivation.  I ran 5.5 miles on a dirt road with a few small hills in 1:09.  It was my first time on the trail so I'll use that as slow excuse #1.  Slow excuse #2 will be that I'm a cupcake.  Plain and simple.  This will be dubbed the railroad track trail and I hope to eventually cut 10ish+ minutes off of that time.

Oh yea... the best part of my run:  Betsy (my garmin) says that I burned 735 calories.  I'm sure that is not entirely accurate (by a long shot) but it still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  Now if I could miraculously drop 20 lbs overnight....  

COLD!

Was supposed to run 4 but my buddy and I missed a turn somewhere.  It was dark.  I wore capri tights because all my full length ones need to be washed and that isn't happening anytime soon.  My legs never warmed up.  Grrr.... Alabama isn't used to this consistent cold streak.  We're going on a week now with no temps above freezing.  And, it is going to continue for at least another week.  I don't like it! 

Speed workout.  My first ever.  We sprinted the straights and walked/jogged the curves.  I really enjoyed it which I was not expecting at all!  I'm sure I will not say that in the heat of the summer.  But with it being so cold my legs were numb and I couldn't feel the burn.  It was fun... and I found out that I'm faster than I thought... for .10 of a mile!

Once again, it was COLD!  I don't see how you people from naturally cold climates do it.  I am miserable!  It's actually not so bad when running.  It the walking in/out of work thing that sucks.  And the socializing before and after the run.  Brrrrr......  Alabama needs to get in gear and get back up to our normal temps in the 40's for this time of year! 

Wasn't planning on running today.  But we're supposed to have actual accumulation of snow tomorrow in North Alabama (can you believe it) so I probably will not be out in it.  It was cold and I really wasn't feelin' it.  So I took the short side (left) of the Railroad Track Trail and just ran it in the dark.  I got a little scared in the DARK!  Even with my headlamp.  I will be completely honest and say that I am terrified of the dark.  I don't know what possessed me to turn out of the neighborhood and onto the trail.  Ahhhhh... I am reading the Twilight series right now (yes, I am one of them) and I thought of freakin' vampires when I was in the middle of the woods all alone.  Not Good.  So, I got to my turn around point as quickly as possible (in reality still very slow) and then headed back to the gloriously lit neighborhood.  I'm glad I got the miles in but it was dark and cold.  More importantly it was dark.  Did I mention that?  Pretty sure my dreams of an ultra will never happen if I can't even run a trail 1/4 mile from a neighborhood without having a cow about the lighting conditions...

Dreadmill.  It sucked. We have actual snow on the ground here.  About 30 degrees so I decided to run inside b/c I am clumsy enough without help from Mother Nature when I'm out running.  I was totally inspired by Kelli's speed workout of 7 miles on the treadmill the other day.  So I thought I would try something like it.  I ran a .50 warmup.  Then ran 1 minute at 8 minute miles and walked one minute for 10 reps.  Then I walked on 10 incline for .30 and about died.  I'm training for a 14 mile trail race with some pretty good climbs so I thought this was good practice.  Then I went back to speed work.  This time doing 30 seconds at 7:15 pace and 1 minute walking.  It was hard.  I was dying.  I am not a fast runner.  AT ALL.  I walked more incline at the end and ended up doing 3.1 miles total.  I didn't do a good job of keeping up with how many reps I did of each thing b/c this young guy about my age got on the treadmill right next to me.  I mean, 100 other ones were open and he had to get right next to me.  And then he tried to talk to me.  No Thank You.  So that distracted me and made me forget my count.  

Also, I played volleyball at lunch.  Does that count as cross training?  I'm sure all the laughing and joking around I did equals about 30 minutes on the eliptical (aka the devil), right? 

Oh, and let me add a big Roll Tide!  That is the main reason I didn't do a normal night run.  I didn't want to miss the big game!  I was raised an Alabama fan and still cheer them on and love to watch football.  I am proud of the SEC and proud of my state!