Dear Deer

For the first time in months and months I didn't have anywhere to be on Saturday. Instead, I was able to sleep in and run at my leisure. And I totally took advantage of it!

Except, when I did get up and look outside the weather was horrific. Cold, windy and doing a combination of snow and rain. Ugh. I really, really didn't want to run in that. In fact, I started kicking myself for not squeezing in my long run on Friday after work. Friday was so gorgeous! But Saturday, the first day of spring, winter returned with a vengeance.

My husband told me I had three choices: suck it up and run outside, run on the treadmill, or not run at all. I knew Option C was not really an option. This time last year Option B would definitely have been my first choice. But this year? I've managed to avoid the treadmill for all of my long runs so I decided to suck it up and run outside.

I also decided that I would drive to the bike path so that I would be sheltered by trees. Also, for some reason 9 miles on the bike path goes so much faster than 9 miles on the roads. In fact, Saturday's run went so quickly I had a difficult time believing I'd really run 9 miles. And I didn't do it significantly faster, either. This Saturday's 9 miler was only thirteen seconds faster than last Saturday's 9. But something about that bike path just makes the time go by so quickly.

Maybe it's the deer. I saw five of them on my run! Three crossed the path in front of me and I ran within feet of the other two standing in the trees off to the side. I love seeing deer. Every time I go out to the path I hope I'll see some. Saturday did not disappoint!

I also saw several other runners. I wasn't the only crazy person braving the wind and the snow flurries. Actually, the snow wasn't really that bad once I got out there. I wasn't even that wet at the end. Of course, some of that might have been because I wore my Westchester VeteRUN 10K jacket. It's more like a sail than a jacket but, hey, that's extra resistance training!

Overall this run felt really good. I was even able to run under race pace for the last mile. After the run, though, I felt totally wiped out. I think the combination of fighting the weather, running hard, and being cold really took a toll on me. Thank goodness we had plenty of Thai food leftovers for dinner!

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Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 622 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: +4 ft Date: 03/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+246/-242] Time: 12:18 PM Difficulty: 3.6 / 5.0   Weather: Light Snow Fog/Mist   33 F temp; 88% humidity   33 F heat index; winds NE 20 G 29 Performance Distance: 9.00 miles Time: 1:28:40 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 51 /mi Calories: 1074 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 03 +0' 12 6.0 -0.1 -7 ft 2 10' 25 +0' 34 5.8 -0.3 +17 ft 3 10' 13 +0' 22 5.9 -0.2 0 ft 4 10' 53 +1' 02 5.5 -0.6 -4 ft 5 9' 45 -0' 06 6.2 +0.1 0 ft 6 9' 45 -0' 06 6.2 +0.1 +6 ft 7 9' 52 +0' 01 6.1 -0.0 -10 ft 8 9' 55 +0' 04 6.0 -0.0 -10 ft end 8' 54 -0' 57 6.7 +0.6 +10 ft Versus average of 9' 51 min/mile

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