And look, I even listened to music during the entire run! I think I like listening to music if I run later in the day, but I don’t care to listen to it in the early mornings because it is just too quiet and peaceful during that part of the day.

I was a mostly happy camper, except for the white stuff on the ground! This marks 232 days between the first snowfall and the last snowfall of the season. I’m not convinced summer will ever come.

I talked to my dad on the phone before I went out for my run and we started talking about the weather, naturally, since we are from Minnesota. I told him it was 28* F. He said, “switch those two numbers and you have our temperature.” Sigh. . . . .

I was not very excited to go for a run this morning, and I know it was merely due to the fact that there was snow on the ground. Seriously, it could have been the same temperature and same everything else, but since that darn snow was on the ground made me not-so-excited to run.

BUT I am way too addicted to not run, so out I went.

Distance: 13 miles

Time: 1:43

Average pace: 7:58 minutes/mile

Here’s how my splits broke down:

Mile 0 – I felt like I was running in a blizzard!

Mile 1 – 8:04

Mile 2 – 7:47

Mile 3 – 7:49 (Nice, I’m keeping a pretty decent pace.)

Mile 4 – 7:47 (Hearing birds chirping and seeing seagulls flying through the neighborhood was strange with snow on the ground.)

Mile 5 – 7:54 (Mile 5 and 6 I ran through a heavily wooded neighborhood, and I know my Garmin wasn’t picking up a very good signal.)

Mile 6 – 8:00 (Mile 6.5 took half of this Espresso Love GU—one of my favorite flavors.)

Mile 7 -8:04 (Mile 7.5 my hamstring started hurting, so I stopped and stretched it out, which seemed to help.)

Mile 8 – 8:09 (Started running slower to protect my hamstring and because I was starting to run out of steam.)

Mile 9 – 8:10 (Took the second half of the GU.)

Mile 10 – 8:09

Mile 11 – 8:00 (I really tried to pick it up and push the pace the last few miles. I was mostly successful, but I was hoping for some splits around 7:45.)

Mile 12 – 7:49

Mile 13 – 7:50

I wore my Zensah gloves on my run today. I had completely forgotten about them. When I first reviewed them, I remembered thinking they weren’t anything special, but I’m a big fan now! They are super soft on the inside and fit like a glove (no pun intended).

I have been spending the past couple of hours following my post-long run recovery protocol, but Craig is getting bored, so it is probably time to get out of the house.

Yes, that would be snow on my windshield on my way home from work.

Seriously Alaska! I am just glad it isn’t really sticking. . . . . . .yet!

Last year on this day we were celebrating my sister’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Kristy!) and the last day of school for me!! In the sunshine of course!

Luckily I didn’t have to run in the snow this morning during my run. It was raining though.

Distance: 4 miles

Time: 33:10

Nice easy run before my long run tomorrow morning.

I signed up for another race!

My sister and I ran the Trent/Waldron Glacier Half Marathon last year. It is one of the smaller half marathons in Anchorage, but it was still fun. I set a new PR last year, but I am way behind where I was last year in my training, so I will definitely not be setting a new PR this year.

I can’t believe it only cost me $30 to register for the race.

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I can’t decide if I should run the half marathon or full marathon in June at the Mayor’s Marathon.

Reasons to run the half-marathon:

- I am not in that great of shape to run a full marathon.

Reasons to run the full marathon:

- I love running marathons!

So, I do want to do the full marathon, but I’m worried I am going to crash and burn since I’m not sure my body is ready to run another marathon so close to the Boston Marathon. I really don’t have much time to prepare and don’t know if I will be able to squeeze in a 20-miler beforehand (although I could probably make it happen). But I don’t know this would be the best thing for my body. I could wait until August to run a different marathon, but I want to do this one! I did it two summers ago, so I know the course and it is the marathon of the summer for this area. But. . .I would be very unprepared, so maybe I should just stick to the half.

Any thoughts?

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I can’t believe I actually like this song

Light ‘Em Up – Fall Out Boy

This is much heavier music than I usually listen to, but I love the beat to this song. I could see this being a good pump-up song when running. Maybe I’ll have to change my musicless ways and put this song on repeat for my next marathon. . . .or at least for the last couple of miles.

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Questions

What is something you can’t believe happened?

What are your running plans for the weekend?

Wednesday morning I did a short 3 mile run, but I was dying. I started to feel really fatigued and sluggish after a mile. I am pretty certain I was low on energy because I started to get light-headed. No good but glad it was only 3 miles.

Wednesday night Craig and I ran the Boston Strong 5K Run in Anchorage. I was a small low-key event, but I didn’t mind. It was still fun!

So glad Craig is willing to bear the cold and wind for my crazy passion.

I didn’t really know what to expect from my body (and hamstring in particular) during the 5K because I honestly can’t tell you the last time I ran fast—maybe last September!?! I decided I’d try to run a low-7:00 minutes/mile pace and see how I felt.

Well, it was a (very) small field, so I got competitive and started towards the front since the leaders didn’t take it out too fast. I tried to maintain a consistent pace throughout the race and surprised myself by running an overall average pace of 6:55 minutes/mile, so I was happy about that.

Time: 21:15

Distance: 3.08 miles (according to the Garmin)

Pace: 6:55 minutes/mile

Overall place: 3rd

Place for the women: 2nd

It was fun to get out and chat with other runners who were at the Boston Marathon. And now that I have one fast run under my belt, I’m looking forward to getting some speed sessions back in my training.