It’s been a chilly winter here in Charlotte, but every time the
temperatures have dropped, the skies have cleared and the sun has shined down
brightly (Conversely, every time it has warmed, it has inevitability rained as
well.) That’s been the case for
the season thus far, but it all changed this past week when we finally got some
snow!
While I was delighted as a young kid to see my little bungalow and its
surroundings turn in to a winter wonderland (I like to take LOTS of pictures!),
I had to still figure out how to run in the stuff! There are no marathon training make-up days in my schedule
for when it’s too icy to hit the streets.
And let’s not even think about how far behind I am on Boston
training. If Boston were a college
class, I’d throw in the towel and elect to treat it as a pass/fail.
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| My little bungalow in the snow. |
When I initially left the comfort of my warm home on our snow day, I
could barely walk on the pavement.
I had to take baby steps in order not to fall! I immediately knew two things: One – my dog was not getting a walk that day, and two –
there was no way I’d be running on the slick streets.
So, what did I do?
Well, do you remember my old, grass track around the corner from my
house where I started running barefoot last summer when I had a stressed-out
right foot and blood blisters on my left from running barefoot on pavement
(I’ve really done some dumb things!)
If not, that’s ok because I had about forgotten about the place
too. But last Wednesday I realized
that the little, grassy park around the corner may be the only place in my
snow-covered neighborhood that was not too slippery to run on.
And as I have learned from analyzing my past training logs, history will
repeat itself. Three weeks in to
Boston training almost immediately after being out for an injury is very
similar (if not more stressful) than my first few weeks of Marine Corps
Marathon training were last summer when my body struggled with the added intensity. That’s why this past week and a half or
so I have been focusing on listening to my body and not doing anything stupid
so to decrease the potential to re-injure myself. And since things did feel a little stressed last week, I
realized getting off the hard sidewalks and streets was the perfect solution
for not only the snow but also my legs.
So, I set out on my chilly journey creating a small path as I ran around
the snowy field and weaved through the trees where I pretended I was in a scene
from the Chronicles of Narnia. May
seem silly but I felt like I had as much fun playing around in the snow as the
neighborhood kids.
To throw in a little quality, I randomly did some strides on the
straightaway – nothing serious, just a little speed play to spice up ten miles
that were made up of laps that were slightly less than .25 miles in
length.
You may think that running close to 50 laps (believe me – I didn’t
count!) around a tiny park may have seemed dull, but the beauty in spending
years doing tax returns and months aqua jogging in a pool is that after those
things you have the mental strength to endure all sorts of monotony. But I honestly didn’t have to tap in to
that strength…Running in the snow was a novelty of sorts. I’m sure it would get old after a
while, but just for a day, I enjoyed my snow day speed play.
Some times we spend too much time focusing on all the things that go
wrong, but the truth of the matter is that things rarely go perfectly – When
things go perfectly that’s the exception
to the rule. We won’t always have
60 degree running weather with clear skies and our bodies won’t always be 100%
healthy, but you have to work with what you are given and learn from your past
mistakes. So, when life throws you
a snowball, you just have to find a new way to play the game.
Boston Experiment Week
5 of 16: 52
My mileage was same as
last week…let’s call that SALWee since in tax we love to blame our mistakes on
the fact that they were SALY (Same As Last Year). Great news is that I am feeling really solid and looking
forward to conservatively increasing my mileage next week. My long run of the week (18 miles at an
average pace of close to 7 minutes/mile) gave me some confidence that even with
less-than-ideal training, there’s potential for Boston to be a good race.
This Week’s Beer
Choice: Boulevard Brewing
Company’s Single-Wide I.P.A. (My beer was more exciting than the Game)
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