February 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

JEEESUZZZZZZ that is a ton of snow...... @katharmonic I am honestly freezing and depressed just looking at the piles and drifts...

And yes Happy birthday to @marisap2010 !.. I always try to downplay my birthday anymore but secretly I love when everyone makes a fuss... Hahahahhaa.

@Scott6255 wfh I have become spoiled and wait for predawn before doing my run. I still get up early enough but I do work and coffee first now since there is no hurry to get back and get dressed for the office. I think that photo timestamp was 7 14 am ... Like to think of it as running the sun up and then I get to ride the sun down in the evenings.

@quilteryoyo your recovery is impressive!! Now we just need an update on our broken ankle heroine....

February Goal: 90 Miles

2/2: 5.31 miles

5.31/90  miles completed for February

I ran a little over 5 miles this morning. It was a nice run. Still chilly, but not too bad. It was really pretty out. There were a few clouds,  but it was mostly clear and even though the moon is no longer full, it was still bright and there were plenty of stars. I smelled a skunk when I was getting close to home, but I never saw one. I did see a skunk on my run on Friday.   I'm hoping it will be nice again tomorrow. 



2021 Races:
11/6/21: Run For 57th AHC Half Marathon

My husband and I got out and ran the 3rd race of our private Winter Series, duplicating the Winter off-road series 5k course to the best of our ability.

Is it too late to return my husband for one who can read maps? I guess after 26 years I probably can’t find the receipt...

Seriously though, we walked the first part of the course, the part that had been changed from the posted course we ran in practice, following a Strava route based on the run the race director ran Sunday. Husband (who has volunteered to navigate) says, “Oh, this is simple, much easier to follow than the original course!” And then, during the actual race, I yell, “Is this the right way?” And he says, yes, yes it was... “Really? Because I don’t remember this...” he again says it’s right, wait, no it’s wrong. Coming up on the finish we come to the blue versus red trail marker and I yell, Blue or red? And he yells, “We usually take red but this year it’s blue!” And thirty seconds later, after I have swapped into high gear for my finishing sprint, “WAIT it’s red!” Grind to a halt, reverse, sprint opposite direction...

It was a little frustrating! There may have been words shouted which small children luckily were not present to hear! Trying to leap into a second finishing sprint right after stopping was not easy.

The good news is there’s a fair amount of spread in my AG so regardless of whether you take the time we actually ran - 31:16 - or calculate that we lost 70 seconds due to going the wrong way (which is about what Strava shows) we end up in the same place, compared to the other ladies my age: fifth of 18. Right behind my doppelgänger, the lady whose time was within one second of mine during the 3k. The three ladies ahead of her were four minutes faster, and the one behind her was more than two minutes slower. So if I had been running the real race, going the wrong way wouldn’t have changed my placing.

Oh well, at least we did better than the poor lady who ran two miles in the wrong direction during the official race.

The distance we got on Strava was a little longer than the Strava records I saw from people who ran the race, even accounting for our turnarounds. Most people ended up recording 2:48 with the longest 2:77 and the shortest 2:20. We ended up with 2:97. Since I don’t believe we ran the wrong direction nearly half a mile (and the map doesn’t indicate we did) I think Strava was freaking out due to so many people during the race, and calling it shorter than it was. So, closer to 5k than I had believed!

Apart from getting lost it was a good run - chilly weather but bright sunlight, lots of deep, black, stanky mud churned up by previous runners, not too much water underfoot.

@SummerSkier Ha, yes it's a bunch of snow, but the pile is kind of deceiving - I think there was only a foot or so. But it's been continuously snowing since and I just measured 22" on my patio table. I think we'll get a few more inches today. I kind of love these long snow events. Once it snowed here for 96 hours straight and I just think let's go for the record!

Welcome @CheerMom715! I hear you about the sitting in the chair in front of the camera. Good for you and keep posting and reading here, it's great motivation.

Great job on your winter series @rheddmobile. Sorry, about the getting lost, but that's part of the fun of trail running right? And no husband returns or exchanges without the original receipt.

Glad you had a good birthday, @marisap2010. I believe counting calories on your birthday is not only not necessary but not even allowed.

@quilteryoyo yes, sometimes it was better on the sides of the path, but the snow there was loose and on top of wet leaves and mud, so it also slowed me down. Mostly I aimed for the spots that were a mix of crunchy ice and leaves (if I could see them). But downhill on mostly ice, I probably should've just brought a sled. There I looked for routes with trees to stop my downward momentum because I had little control, and tended to go down backwards because footing was easier. Uphill was also easier.

I have an important public health notice to share....
Listening to a funny podcast while running in a mask can lead to almost choking with laughter and not being able to breathe very well which in turn leads to people either giving you funny looks or asking if you're ok!
Wasn't feeling very motivated before my run, I'm tired and sore and bored. Podcast certainly took my mind off things and helped me plod through todays's 5 miles.
In other news, my Run The Year goodies just arrived and cheered me up no end
I've signed up for a 'relax your mind and body' workshop on Sunday morning at our local theatre. The first part is supposedly self myofascial release techniques with a tennis ball followed by guided meditation. Not so keen on the 2nd part, but it's a morning out and for the price of the 3 kilos of food we are asked to donate for the foodbank in payment it should be worth it just for the tennis ball part.

2/1 2.02 miles 3.5 mph - treadmill
2/2 2.23 miles 3.5 mph - treadmill
2/3 2.00 miles 3.6 mph - driveway laps

Monthly Total: 6.25/56 miles

It was sunny, but cold today, 34°F with a feels like of 28°F. I found out my elderly neighbor passed away this morning so I decided I needed some fresh air. I walked 2.0 miles doing driveway laps. I thought I was going slower than normal. Apparently not.

17.2/70 miles

2/1: 6 miles
2/2: 4.1 miles
2/3: 7.1 miles

Another morning with pretty nice weather. About 50 F, sunny, and humidity not too high. I was supposed to do a speed workout, which I loosely followed. My prescribed intervals became very loose fartleks of various lengths. But it's still speed work and I didn't have to pay attention to my watch as closely as I would with the intervals, since I run on the road and not a track.
My family is continuing their C25K journey, currently wrapping up week 5 and making good progress. My daughter is moving up to Jr. high next year and they have a cross country team. We are talking to her about giving it a shot so she can maybe have a school team that she is a part of. With rock climbing, most of the school sports are not possible because of competing practice times. But CC practice is in the morning so she could actually do both. I would like for her to have a school activity, and hopefully something she can stick with as she heads into high school. It would be a good way for her to make friends as the schools get larger and look good on her college applications.
I keep telling her that doing C25K now should make starting CC easier since my guess is that some of the kids who join won't really be running currently. I think she is worried they will suddenly expect so much from her. I just don't see that happening. They are 7th graders just starting a sport and the coaches won't want to scare everyone off on day 1. I think it will be a fairly painless transition for her and will help her stick to running. She enjoys running, but like a lot of kids, she gets distracted by the next new thing pretty quickly and falls out of the habit. We'll see how it goes. My daughter simultaneously wants to do EVERYTHING and can be pretty lazy about actually doing things. So, she gets really excited about something then fizzles out when the time comes to start the activity. But for now, she likes the idea of CC and being a part of a team sport. Fingers crossed it works out.

Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
02/01/21 :::: 2.1 :::: 2.1
02/02/21 :::: 1.6 :::: 3.6
02/03/21 :::: 5.0 :::: 8.7

I was planning to go in to work today but I knew it would take extra long to get there because of road conditions, and I was going to have to do a zoom meeting anyway, so I just did it from home (mostly I just miss my dual monitors at work, which is why I wanted to go in). Stella was refusing to venture out in the back yard because of the deep snow so I had to take her on a lunch break walk. We did about 2 miles in the woods and it was quite a challenge. I should have worn my snowshoes for sure, but we just trudged through. The snow is deep but very fluffy.

I did not want to attempt to run on trails or sidewalks, and the roads are not easy now either - and narrow from all the piled snow. So I decided to head to the gym and do speedwork on the treadmill. The coach's workout this week was 5-7-3-5 minute intervals with 2 min recovery between. I actually ran into coach at the gym so i felt compelled to do the workout rather than wimp out and just run a nice comfortable pace. I did 10 minutes warmup and about 12 minutes cooldown and the whole thing added up to 5 miles.