Another Monday - but with post-weekend glow

Last Monday I wrote about the"challenging" weather that I have been confronted with the past several Mondays as I run to my early morning volunteer job.  Today was no exception.  Boulder was treated to fog and mist accompanied by temperatures in the low 20s - which meant sidewalks, roads and paths were frosted with a lovely glaze.  Good for cakes, not so much for runners.  Thus a lot of grumbling accompanied today's run - but a bit of warmth ran through me whenever I would think back on the weekend's runs. 


 Saturday I waited until afternoon which meant bypassing the temps in the teens and, instead, running in the very high 40s on an almost clear stretch of streets that allowed for a pretty darned good workout of 6and2s.  And yesterday, for my weekly Sunday long run, I met up with running buddies and we found enough clear sailing for a 2-plus hour very delightful run...including sideline spectators of deer and cows.  Yes! Cows are back along the South Boulder Creek Trail.  It must mean calving season is right around the corner!

Reaching into an old bag of tricks

Yesterday morning's run left me very frustrated, seeing as how the slip sliding across the ice barely classified as running.  Last night, Kendall and I had a CU Women's Basketball game on the schedule.  I remembered that, in challenging winters of yesteryear, I would run the steps in the Events Center while the basketball team warmed up and music blared through the sound system.  The steps are challenging, but the music is great for knee lifting and arm pumping - sort of a magic wand for making it a manageable workout. 

Off we went to the game, ready to enter the arena as soon as the doors opened.  I dropped my outer layers at our seats, then tackled the steps.  It turns out that running buddies Connie and Ron arrived at their seats while I was huffing and puffing my way around the arena - and Connie had a happy trigger finger on her camera.


I haven't gone back through my running logs since completing two trips around the Events Center steps last night, but I do believe my age was showing on this most recent attempt.  Uffdah!  Two Very Good Things about the workout: it was a hard run successfully completed AND I worked up a sweat - a rare delight during our recent blast of winter!