From NR: Step back week

Last week ended up being a step back week for mileage. I meant for it to be THIS week, but events conspired to put it a week earlier and I guess that's fine. It's good to be flexible, right? Plus - I've been having some weird shin/below the knee issues that come from improper sitting at work! It's strange having to pay attention to such things, now! I'm already a lot better, though, after paying strict attention to having two feet flat on the floor at all times if I'm sitting at my desk for the last couple of days, so I'm sure I'll be fine.

So my original plan this last weekend was a nice long run Saturday and a short-medium run Sunday. The problem came in that I was waiting until Saturday NIGHT and trying to plan a moonlight run with friends that just sort of fell apart (which certainly had nothing to do with the last minute way in which I tried to organize. Oh, no, definitely not!). This left me without a long run Saturday.

Come Sunday morning, my body wussed out first, as I turned the alarm off and promptly fell back asleep barely waking up in time to call my scheduled running partner to warn her. So we pushed things off another hour only to watch the wind pick up and the snow fly around until we BOTH wanted to wuss out on the run. Happily, we were able to muster the desire to at least get out for a medium run (time constraints prevented a long run). It actually turned out to be quite beautiful out in the woods. The wind was really strong but it was still warm out, so it didn't make it miserable and the woods kept you fairly sheltered. The trees were loud in the wind and the snowmobile trails were deserted since they were all ice - but ice that crushed under your feet instead of glare ice, so very runable. It was one of those runs that started . . . off. I don't know what was wrong but I had 20 different aches and pains though nothing was super sore or really tired at all. I wanted to be out there and yet something just wasn't connecting right so that I didn't want to be out there. So we ran the first half of the run mostly in silence - my running partner seemed to feel similar and I know opening my mouth would have just let out lots of whining from me! By the way back, though, things felt better and I was ready to go further but for that time constraint (a birthday party with friends I hadn't seen in a while so I wanted to go). I was downright babbling on the way back. I should come with a warning label sometimes during runs: "WARNING: Will talk you ear off about nothing in particular if you let her" though I do also have to say that I'm perfectly capable (usually) of being quiet if that is preferred by those I'm running with :) I guess it's a sign that I'm running my long runs at the correct pace if I'm able to talk, right?

Speaking of long runs - my dad has agreed to crew for me at Voyageur! Yay! More on that as the time gets nearer. It's probably not appropriate to talk about Voyageur while there's still snow on the ground, huh?

It really felt like spring was coming today, though. The road I ran on had that dirty look of Spring - no snow, no ice but puddles and all the dirt/grime left behind before the street cleaners come through. Some grass was showing through along the side of the road and you could smell that just-uncovered-grass smell. There was a wind but it wasn't cold and the sun was nice and warm. It's always so cruel to have a taste of spring when you know it's a ways off yet. Last week I ran in half tights! And was comfortable. It felt so nice to have my legs getting wet by puddles spraying up. I've never been so ready for spring before - I'm dying to have nice clear single track back again! Though, I have to say, I would have preferred the snow the Cities got since that would make the trails better (I've heard most are just glare ice) and I'd love to get more skiing in before the end of winter. As long as the trails aren't going to be clear, they might as well REALLY not be clear, is my thinking!