Perspective

Several posts ago, I was whining about making the change to running in cold weather and how I just couldn't get my body out the door if the temp was less than 30 degrees.  Oh, how times have changed!!

There is nothing like a little artic vortex (the weather person's phrase, not mine) to give a person a completely new perspective on what "cold" really is.  And it's all relative folks, it really is. 

Across much of the country, temps were in the single digits or below.  In my little area of the world, there were several days of temps in negative degrees once the wind chill was factored in.  And this happened, of course, the week that most people were starting the serious training for the local half that I've signed up for.  So I made friends with the dreadmill again, and tried to be grateful that I had one in my building to use. 

But the positive that has come out of such a cold spell?  I can now run comfortably in 15 degree weather and even enjoy running in the snow, as long as ice isn't involved.  Thank you artic vortex!!

I have also recently been experimenting with running without music.  I've only tried it twice so far for an entire run and I have to say that it's not as bad as I imagined.  I even did my long run today without music or my run app to track my pace.  I knew the route I was running so I just didn't care.  It was nice to not worry about how fast or how slow I was going.  It was cloudy and a little rainy at the start, but the rain stopped and it was great to just enjoy the scenery of the horse farms, old trees, and barns on my route.  So peaceful!!! I only wished I had my phone at the times I wanted to take some photos. 

It was also the first week that I added an extra day to my running schedule, which now means getting up at 4:15 3x per week.  It's was rough.  I go to bed so early it's insane.  But I just keep telling myself it's only until the end of March.  It's only till the end March.  March.