Hard Times Don't Last Forever

I ran three miles today at 28:44 pace -- nothing stupendously fast, but a goal I didn't obtain in all of 2009.

As I was looking at my running logs, I was close to today's time a couple times later in 2008. But things went downhill fast in January 2009--lots of lung pain, asthma, and hard runs. Then in April I came down with hospital pneumonia and was in the hospital for three days. (I almost bit the dust).

I remember coming home from the hospital and finding that I, who had run two half-marathons earlier in the year, couldn't run half a block. I pushed hard to land on my feet, too hard in fact. And I was sick again later in the summer.

On a day of deep discouragement, one of my running friends told me that it would take about a year to recover completely from the pneumonia. Believe it or not, that was encouraging. I knew then that the problem wasn't a lack of effort; what I needed was time to heel. So with lots and lots of encouragement from my running friends, I did manage to keep slogging along in 2009. My slogan for 2010, though, has been "back again in 2010". The year didn't start off well with all the deep snow hampering training runs, but then today there was this great run. I am so very encouraged. Although I know not all my runs will be at this pace, the PR reminds me that hard times really don't last forever. They just seem like they will when you're in the middle of them.

The Security Blanket Returns

Last Sunday was a nice break from the cold, but high winds and cold temps have combined to make this week another mostly miserable week for running. Even so we did manage a couple 5Ks, though I'm back to wearing my security blanket sweatshirt. It's been a very cold, deep snow winter and I'm ready for it to end. I want to run the March Madness 5K in Gypsy Hill Park in a couple weeks and, with the running I've been doing, I fear it truly will be a run instead of a race.

Train to race or race to train -- that was the question raised in a Running Journal article this week. I think I am primarily a train to race person; I want to train hard so that I can race well. Others, like my running partner Butch, race to train. He uses races as speed work. If I was more like him, I'd be less stressed about the upcoming March Madness 5K. Instead I am stressed for fear I won't run well instead of being excited about an opportunity for a 5K training run.

Spring? January Thaw in February?

Has spring sprung? Or are we just getting a January thaw very late in the year? Whichever it is, after today's run, I found myself mesmerized by the tiny stream flowing from beneath a mound of snow and across the entrance of the apartment parking lot. Moving water. Tiny bubbles of ice crystals floating on top. Visibly smaller mounds of snow turned into weird-shaped sculptures depending on how the sun has hit the mounds. Sun on my exposed face as I ran without my face mask or my sweatshirt, sans security blanket.

Earlier, even though weather.com said the temperature would be in the mid-40s today, I still dressed for my run in that sweatshirt placed over a cotton tee over technical long sleeved tee. And I wore wind pants over running tights. When Butch came to the door dressed in shorts and cotton tee, I knew I was overdressed. But I've been wearing that sweatshirt for so long.

"I don't know what to do," I said. "Do I need my sweatshirt?"

I stepped outside. The sun felt warm, but the breeze was just a bit biting. I took a deep breath, summoned up a bit of courage, pulled off my security blanket against the cold and headed out. Surprisingly, after three weeks of ice-dancing, two-mile hill runs, and snow shoveling in record cold, I still felt strong and finished today's 5K only 30 seconds shy of this year's course record. Obviously I have lost a little of the gain I had made earlier this winter, but not nearly so much as I had feared. Anything really has proven better than nothing. Nonetheless I am itching for some speed work and some long runs in good weather.

Even Water Doesn't Always Run Downhill

There is still no safe place to run around Broadway. Sidewalks aren't shoveled out. Shoulders are buried in mounds of snow. But, finally, the elementary school parking lot was almost bare on Friday, so we ran around it for a time period equal to at least two miles (we allowed 12 minutes per mile because of all the turns and a couple icy patches just to be sure we got in a full two miles).

And then we ice-danced our way back to my apartment where we found this proof that even water doesn't always run downhill! The "uphill effort" of running during temps in the single digits and teens for an unusually long period of time, and during the highest snowfall since 1996, has been really rough. Were it not for Butch, my running buddy, I'm sure I'd have given up trying. Besides running, I've also had cardiovascular workouts through shoveling snow and jumping rope. I hope that this winter's "hill workout" is better than nothing and that the benefits will appear come spring.

One Mile of Ice Intervals and Stride Outs

Streets are slippery in spots and mostly snow covered after just an hour of snow (on top of the 20+ inches we got over the weekend). If we were really dedicated, we'd have run in place, I suppose. Instead we opted to run hard up the hills, do stride-outs on the only small piece of parking lot in front of the elementary school that was not icy, and dance over the icy patches. We did this for 15 minutes and called it a mile.
The chunks of ice that have fallen from the roof and toppled the shrub in front of my apartment.
The maze of parking spots and walk ways.

No Run Today

There's a second car in the front of this photo. . .all you can see of it is three spots of teal.
My car is nearly out. Two neighbors helped shovel.
As you can see the the snow is up to my back side, and the shoveled snow even higher.

Running Free

I don't know why yesterday's post has arrows on it; I didn't do anything different, not do I know how to get them removed. Oh well. . .on to today.

I ran 3 in 30:06, and I'm very proud of myself I might say. This is better than I did a year ago, pre-pneumonia (and I'm sure you're getting bored about hearing everything in terms of pre- and post-pneumonia, but it's my new base line, my latest start-over point). Pre-pneumonia I was running 5Ks somewhere around 8:45 to 9:30 pace in spite of slow training runs.

At the beginning of the year, I put a sticky note in my running journal with 2010's fastest runs in it, and today's 3-mile track run was also a 2010 best (not that we're very far into the year, but my motto for this year is "back again in 2010"). Both the 2009-2010 comparison and the sticky note indicate that I truly am getting better.

But running is actually fun again also and it has been for a couple weeks. Many days I find myself lost inside my head working out a problem, planning the day, or just thinking things through. And that's important, too.

Today I ran on the track and enjoyed being lost inside my head, not worried about time but just running to run. And the time was one of the better ones anyway. Sometimes the best runs are the relaxed runs, where you just let the legs fly and enjoy being free.