Working Through It

The grunge is hanging on a bit, but improving. Winter is still here and, well, being wintry. But gosh darn it, I gotta run! For all the same reasons that have always been there: to see the sights, to get out from behind the desk and breath fresh air, to sweat, and for my sanity.

So yesterday, Taz and I ran one of Taz's  favorite places - CU South. It's a former gravel pit now owned by CU, and mostly undeveloped save for CU's cross-country course, a hodgepodge of additional trails and CU's tennis courts. Best of all, dogs can run free. Yesterday happened to be a frosty foggy day....thus the very happy foggy doggy the minute the leash came off!

Coming into today, running buddy, Connie, and I knew that a change in the weather was moving in on us. Our only concession to the forecast of dropping temperatures and light snow was that we planned to start at a extraordinarily late 8:30. It turns out that the temperature really dropped - reading a mere 11 degrees when I headed out the door, and the light dusting of snow became several inches of snow.  But as I told Connie when she texted at 7:30 to be sure the run was still on: "I'm layering up right now. It should be pretty." And indeed it was - quiet, frosty, and lovely.

...and so we run on...

The best-laid plans...

I came into the new year committed to upping my training level. Perhaps I was a bit over optimistic given that it's mid-winter and weather is always the X factor when it comes to running on the roads and trails around Boulder. Sure enough, we've had weekly doses of ice and snow which has resulted in multiple days of less than desired mileage and certainly less than desired quality.

This past week, however, winter grunge struck. A ticklish throat had been toying with me for a few days then landed hard as I started in on what was supposed to be a 2-hour run Saturday - hard enough that I turned back toward home 20 minutes into the run. I hoped that giving myself an easy day Saturday (yesterday) would allow me to bounce back quickly from the grunge but, nope, today is even worse...sort of a cold, sort of nauseous, brillo-pad-feeling in my head, and excessive fatigue. Blech. Two miles of running this morning - on more snow - did me in.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm just being a wimp when I call a run short because I'm not feeling tip-top. Today, I'm pretty sure the grunge is the real deal. When I returned home at two miles, I discovered Paul was at our house with cinnamon rolls. Three hours later and my cinnamon roll is still sitting there. Perhaps I should check for my pulse!