When my alarm went off a little after 6 this morning for my running date, I REALLY wasn’t feeling it. I’m tiiiiired, I whined to myself. I probably shouldn’t have had those 2 glasses of red wine at happy hour last night, either. I checked my phone: freezing rain and 27 degrees?! Great. I debated texting my buddy Sokphal to see if she still wanted to run or not, but then I decided I should probably stop being such a wimp. If she texted, we’d go from there. But I wasn’t going to be the one to bail first.
So I dragged myself out of bed and got ready. I didn’t hear anything, so I headed outside at 6:30 and there she was. Oh, okay. So we’re really doing this? Cool. Got it.
Sokphal said it was pretty icy on the sidewalks but that the streets were totally fine. We debated what to do. Go inside and run together on the treadmill in my apartment gym? Blah, that’s boring. New plan: run on the non-slippery roads over to the track, and see if that was icy. Avoid the scary sidewalks and stay in the bike lane until we arrived. Thankfully, we both had bright/reflective clothing on, and this plan worked out just fine.
When we arrived at the track (at Washington & Lee High School), it was still more or less pitch black out (although my camera lit things up nicely for the photo above), but we were in luck: the track was not icy at all. We had between 7 and 8 miles planned, so we decided we would just do most of them on the track, then run back. Not the most thrilling route but it would do.
And what do you know? We ended up having a GREAT run. Isn’t it funny how that happens?
We got to talking and the miles went by quickly, so we decided we might as well just go big and do the 8 mile option. 4 miles on the track later, and we were ready to run back. Check out my frost/freezing rain-tastic legs! Yikes. I had on an ear warmer and super warm gloves so I wasn’t cold, but I could’ve used my visor to keep the rain out of my face. I also should have done a braid or something – my hair was a complete rat’s nest when we finished!
Farewell, track. Thanks for the non-slippery miles. You make me miss all the track workouts my friends and I used to do on UNC’s baby blue track in grad school! Maybe I should bring track workouts back again…
By the time we got back to my place (again, sticking with the roads vs. sidewalks), we had covered 8.15 miles, and at a great pace, too: our average pace was 8:34 minute/miles. Our miles on the track were between 8 and 8:15, and the road miles were a little slower since we were being cautious.
My watch didn’t get the satellites right away, so I snapped a picture of Sokphal’s instead.
Thanks for getting me out there, girl! Totally would NOT have done that without you. Yay for running buddies. 🙂 Also, a side note – Sokphal is working with local running/triathlon coach Clay Battin, who I recommended to her after meeting him at an event recently and being really impressed by him. She’s gunning for a BQ this year at her spring marathon and said he’s been AMAZING to work with (lots of detailed analysis and communication, great technical tips/advice, etc.) – highly recommend him if you’re looking for a local DC area running coach!
And now, I’m enjoying being warm and dry. For breakfast, I rocked my Perfect {Microwave} Banana Oatmeal, topped with some cottage cheese (salty/sweet combo FTW! adds great protein, too), some chia seeds and slivered almonds, and some pomegranate arils that I impulse purchased at Whole Foods earlier this week. Yum!
Plus a large unpictured double latte. 😉 So obsessed with our Nespresso espresso machine.
And now, back to work! Matt and I are leaving this afternoon to head down to North Carolina this weekend to meet our new nephew in Winston Salem, and swinging by Chapel Hill tonight/tomorrow morning to see friends on our way. Should be a fun and busy weekend! I’ll be back Monday to share our adventures.
And now, since you guys said you liked this, my weekly workout recap:
- Monday: 45 minute swim (alternating backstroke/breaststroke/freestyle)
- Tuesday: 1 hour 15 minute hot power vinyasa flow class at the Studio DC with my buddy Karen – great class (kicked my butt!)
- Wednesday: 4.5 mile (freezing) solo run
- Thursday: rest day
- Friday: 8.15 mile run
Have a wonderful weekend, friends! How are your workouts going this week?
