Snowy Sundays

24 hours into this new blog, and I’m feeling a lot better about my decision.

I love writing.  I don’t often get a chance to spend much time really exercising my creativity.  I used to keep a journal.  I started journaling right before my second son was born.  I would spend a few minutes each night dedicatedly writing out what had happened that day, my hopes and dreams, whether I had exercised, basically whatever was on my mind.  I kept this up for three years.  It’s amazing to look back and have that record to remember what was going on in those days.  There are notes about my kids’ development – what they were saying, how they acted (the good and the bad).

And there are my personal highs and lows.  The first time I ran over six miles (a high!).

Then I found blogging.   I started a private family blog to document all those little moments of my children’s lives, just as they happened.  I was able to snap a picture, or a video and record a moment in minutes.  I could send a short email to the blog with something funny one of the kids just said – and it was there, frozen in time.

And my journal suffered.  I have written a few times in it, but long stretches of time pass without even a note. Each time I try to commit to writing for even 5 minutes a day, it lasts hardly a week (oh, who am I kidding? It doesn’t even last two days!)

I’m really looking forward to having this avenue for my thoughts, my dreams, and my running.

Which reminds me to get back to the running.  That’s why I’m here, anyway. 🙂

I put off my long(ish) run yesterday in lieu of a run today. The forecast was promising Sunday to be 10-15 degrees warmer, and, as Saturday was my husband’s morning to sleep in, I wouldn’t have been able to get out to run until almost 10 am anyway.  I’m a morning runner.  The closer I get to lunchtime, the worse I run.  So I bundled up this morning, and headed out for 6-7 miles.  Last week I was “supposed” to run 6 miles, but I had spent the weekend curled up in bed fighting the stomach flu.

It snowed on Friday, and so I knew my favorite running spot would be snow-covered.  I love running on the bike path, it is so peaceful and quiet.

I have been running in the New Balance Minimus since October or so.  I’ve really enjoyed using a more minimal shoe, but one of the drawbacks to this shoe is there is virtually no tread on the sole.  So I was really concerned that I would have a hard time running in the snow and ice with these shoes.

Photo courtesy Barefoot Angie Bee

I have a pair of YakTrax that I used consistently last winter.  With the NB being a more minimal shoe, I wasn’t quite sure how the YakTrax would fit on them.  Luckily, when I tried them on, they fit perfectly.  What a sigh of relief I had when I realized I wouldn’t have to dig out an old pair of shoes for today’s run.

NB Minimus Road with YakTrax

With my feet stable and my hands warm (I have a new pair of Pearl Izumi running gloves that I hadn’t yet been able to test out), I headed out.  It was a beautiful morning, cloudy and overcast.  I say beautiful, most others would probably say gloomy. The wind was whistling along at about 15 mph, right into my face.  The snow slowed me down a bit, which was probably good since I have been struggling to run the last few days (darn stomach flu).

I wore my headphones and listened to my favorite podcast, Geeks in Running Shoes.  Hmmm, the title of this blog is “Running Unplugged.” I can see I’m going to have to explain what the title of my blog means.  That’s a post for another day…

All in all, I ran six miles in just under an hour, with a 9:45 pace.  I felt good, strong, and comfortable.