Starting Back Up!

Thursday was my last day of self-prescribed rest. But Wednesday, Mother Nature took a dump all over my chest (as seen in the post 2 posts down). So I wasn’t in the mood to run outside on top of all that fresh white crap.

Friday: Lift weights and little core. I took it easy on the weights. I used a little lighter weight than usual, and I did 1 less set than normal for everything - I didn’t want to be super sore the next day, and I didn’t know what “14 days of nothing” really took out of me. Turns out, I was a little sore on Saturday, but not bad. Good “starter” workout.

Saturday: EASY run of unknown distance. It was going to be my first “training run” in about 4 weeks! (And my first run since the indoor triathlon nearly 3 weeks ago.) I purposely picked a route that I didn’t know very well, so I would have no idea where the mile markers were; I’d just be running.

It was chilly, but still a great evening for a run in MN in December:

I thought I’d try out a new top: the GoLite DriMove BL-3 Longsleeve Zip. I put it on, and I noticed 2 good things: it was WARM (and soft and cozy), and it had a zipper. Those are 2 important things for winter running apparel. It needs to be warm (for obvious reasons), but there also needs to be a way to cool down in case you warm up too much. Here I am after putting it on for the first time:

Here’s what it actually looks like when it’s not on a goof-ball trying to take his own photo:

I did NOT wear my YakTrax even though I knew there was going to be packed snow. YakTrax means traction, traction means speed, and I just needed to take it easy (or so the reasoning went in my head). I headed towards the Mississippi. Here I am running along the river with the sun setting in the west:

A few minutes later, I came upon this guy who had lost control and taken out a light pole:

Can’t you see the sign laying on the ground in front of your van that says “No Parking?!” Ha! I kid.

The path wasn’t in bad shape. I wasn’t sliding around too much. Here’s what it looked like heading down the hill to the Mpls / St. Paul boarder:

I turned around right at 20:00. I had no idea how far from home I was. I FORCED myself to keep it easy and not pick up the pace too much. I made it back home in 39:51. My glasses fogged up as soon as I stopped:

I mapped out the run later. It turns out I ran 5.3 miles, so that’s 7:31 / mile. Nice, easy run in great running weather! Oh, and the top kept me PLENTY warm! I’ll actually reserve it for sub-0 runs I think. It's thicker and warmer than it looks.

Oh, and here’s a funny side note: Friday, a box came from Amazon.com. I forgot what I had ordered, so it was like Christmas when I was opening it up. Once I opened it, I realized it was the order that Pharmie wanted me to make for her:

Yep, that’s 6 boxes of bikini wax. NOT for me. The BEST part was when I looked at the packing slip. Amazon had made a mistake. We had a packing slip that was for Timothy S of Connecticut. He had ordered “Gladiator” on Blu-Ray and 3 nice headphones totaling $158.15. Timothy S is in for a SHOCK when he sees that his packing slip is for 6 boxes of bikini wax!! Ha! Explain THAT to your wife, Timothy! ;)