National Countdown - 3 Weeks to Go

Sunday we had a great amount of snow melt and Monday morning we woke up to piles of snow and continued snowfall. (Frustrating!) Before anything was plowed I decided to give it a go with my YakTrax. However, the YakTrax were no match for the depth of the snow on the ground. I had a hard time wading through all the snow with my "high knees". (I took the above picture on my iPhone during my run.) I could only make it 2.5 miles, but I figured it counted for the five I was supposed to do!

The rest of the week was basically a constant downfall of snow. I was lazy and didn't prioritize running enough so I didn't get another run in until Thursday. I did a tempo run on the treadmill. Every time I hop on the 'mill I have so much respect for people who do most or all of their runs on there. Not only is it mentally harder, I feel like it's physically harder! I'm way slower on a treadmill.

On Friday, we had planned on a 20-miler, but thanks to the 20+ mile per hour winds, the snowfall, the black ice, the un-plowed sidewalks, etc... our 20-miler turned in to 13. I started out with a really positive attitude and I was actually really excited to get out and run 20 miles, however, it just became less and less fun. (We were actually pretty insane for being out there in the first place.) Once it wasn't fun anymore, I gave up. I decided that since I feel like long runs are built to make you push through hard times giving up was okay. We had already pushed through about 10 times during that run alone, not to mention pushing through nearly every other run we've had. Plus, running is supposed to be fun! When I qualify for Boston, I want it to be fun, not miserable. So at mile 13, I was mentally checked out. Oddly enough, after the run and the next day my body felt like we'd run the full 20. I think it worked out okay!

Weekly Goals

Monday: 5 miles @ 8:35 /mi

Tuesday: 3 miles @ 7:23 /mi (w/ 1 mile warm and cool)

Thursday: 5 miles @ 8:35 /mi

Saturday: 20 @ 8:35 /mi

Outcome

Monday: 2.5 miles @ 10:06 /mi

Thursday: 1.75 miles @ 7:30 /mi (w/ .75 miles warm and cool)

Friday: 13 miles @ 9:03 /mi

Snow People

The other day we had to get outside since we've been cooped up with the constant snowfall as of late. Dad headed up the snowman making, which the kids really enjoyed.

Sydney, Brian, and Wes with snowman number one.

The kids had such a good time, Brian helped them create a snow family! (I tried helping, but I wasn't very good at snowman-making. I ended up taking Sydney in when her little hands were getting red, much to her chagrin.)

It actually snowed basically non-stop the rest of the week and all the snow-people didn't look like themselves anymore. The tall one on the left looked like a rocket when all was said and done, which Wes actually thought was pretty cool.