Baby, I was born to run (in the rain, snow, sleet?)!

Saturday, March 28, 2009 6:00 a.m.-Not a drop of rain!
So the weatherman had been prediciting maybe a few inches of snow on Saturday morning, so I was up early to monitor the weather since our 20 mile run was scheduled to begin at 7:00 a.m. Since there wasn't a drop of rain outside, I thought I would stop procrastinating and head out.
6:55 a.m.-Pouring rain and thunder (what the heck was I thinking!?)
So at this point I am in my car next to April, when Kelly hops in my car. We are all debating about if they are having the run or not. Everyone is there sitting in their cars. Finally, Kelly makes a move suggesting we just go get started.
7:30 a.m.-We are jogging at a nice pace in the rain. It is about 38 degrees. Which sounds cold, but when you are running you produce a lot of heat!
Kelly and I are running directly in front of some boys that have to be either in high school or college. This is providing endless amusement for us, as they feel free to discuss all sorts of colorful topics! One of which being tights.
End of first 5 mile lap-Kathy is there waiting for us with snacks and water. We don't spend much time there. Instead we spend a good 5-10 minutes in the restrooms trying to dry out our gloves!
By this time it has went from sleet to snow. The sleet was misrable, as it hit you in the face (my only exposed surface) it hurt! So it is obviously getting colder outside. But, we smile our big girl smiles, and get back out there. We actually have a very scenic 5 mile loop, the snow is beautiful. And, it is not getting us nearly as wet as the rain, so this loop seems to go by very fast.
End of our second 5 mile lap-Kathy has bailed-lucky dog! Only a few runners are left. Kelly and I hit the road hoping that this experience will be worth it in the end! This lap turned bad very fast! The snow was coming down a lot heavier, making some of the surfaces very slick! And, the temperature has dropped a lot. We really don't even talk for most of the loop. Which if you know me (and I would assume if you are reading this you do, is very unusual for me!) At some point Kelly and I discuss the possiblity that this was a little crazy, but we both just decide that we are very dedicated. There is a very thin line between dedication, and frost bite appearently!
End of the 3rd loop (so 15 miles completed) I am starting to have second thoughts. I can't feel my toes, and my hands hurt. I had two pairs of gloves, but both are soaking wet by this point. But, we start out on the final loop. It appears that all the other runners have went home. The snow is heavy, and I am seriously worried about my toes. I think I may need them-don't they help with balance? And, since I am not all that graceful, I am pretty sure that losing one might effect my running!
When we arrive at the 11th street bridge I really notice how much snow has accumulated. Crud, I still have to drive back to Owasso. I am really conflicted at this point, I have come too far to quit is what my mind is saying, but I am also thinking none of this is going to matter if I get into a car accident. My mind is going back and forth over all of these thougths! Plus, running is sort of like the military, you don't leave a fellow runner behind. So I tell Kelly, that I think we need to go back. But, Kelly is determined to see the 20 miles through-plus, she lives within walking distance (if that was necessary) of the loop. So we part ways. I head back to my car feeling defeated, frustrated, and sad that I left Kelly! I look accoss the river for her as I am running on the other side, but the snow is too thick to see the other bank. I am so lonely at this point (so I can't imagine how Kelly felt finishing the final 4 miles). So I decided to pick up the pace, and just get back! So I end up with a little over 17 miles for the day.
Follow up to that day: Kelly finished her 20 miles, we both arrived home safely, and Owasso ended up with approximately 10 inches of snow.
Sunday, March 29, 2009-4:00 p.m.-Beautiful, sunny and 60 degrees!
I head out to Riverside thinking that I will run 3 miles just to say that I completed 20 miles. I really wasn't in the best of moods, because this felt like cheating! But, all is not lost, I ended up running 6 miles, and ran into a ton of people with Runners' World out finishing their mileage from the day before!
So 23 miles later the weekend was thankfully over!

Marathon Training 2/14/09

So here you all go-another installment of the marathon training! So I have a 25K (15.5 miles-my math skills are improving!) coming up at the end of Feb. Then a half marathon in Little Rock, who's motto is 'Got hills?' What the heck was I thinking! OKC Marathon in April, then the biggest daddy of them all San Francisco in July.

So the marathon is starting to feel real! I have officially completed my longest run to date of 14 miles. It was rough; it involved getting up in what I classify as the middle of the night (5 a.m.) on a Saturday morning in the cold to go run for several hours. Wow-I may need to rethink of what I classifly as fun!

As you all know from the last email I have been running with a group. But, I mainly run with three girls. It is kind of unusual for us all to run together, but I almost always run with on of them. One of the girls I have run with from the beginning set up a new acquaintance of hers, and me up on a ‘running date.’ Hence, I am meeting some girl in a parking lot that I have never met to go run together. She turns out to be super runner! She has been challenging me to run faster. Of course the first time, I thought I might pass out from lack of breath, because I was too embarrassed to tell her that I could not run at super human speeds. But, we have become good running buddies, and have recently had a couple of notable runs together.

1) We were running on a rather new trail, and ran by a little girl on her bike. She called out ‘hey runner girls!’ It was rather cute. My new running buddy swears she has not had as much attention from passer bys as she has had running with our little group. Just proof of what a great looking group of girls we are!

2) We went out running with a group of older gentlemen one unseasonably warm night. We decided to run a little extra (a couple of miles). We got more history on the houses in Tulsa than I have ever heard in my entire life (we ran by someone from Hee-Haw's house)! Plus, I should note that I was super impressed/disappointed that we were running with these men that had probably a good 30 years on us.

The other notable run I have had recently was a run with one of the other girls. We were scheduled to run 10 miles. But, we had discovered that it was an out and back, that could be made into a loop if you ran an extra 1 ½. We had both agreed at the beginning that we didn’t want to be over achievers, so we were only going to run the 10 miles. Well, that all changed after we ran down the ‘steep mountain’ in Turkey Mountain. When it became clear that there was no way in the world that we would be able to make it back up the sucker, we signed ourselves up for the extra 1 ½ no problem!

These girls do tease me about always trying to get out of running hills. The big question-how am I going to run SF??

Of course, we have met a lot of characters along the way, the man who does not drink milk because it creates extra mucus, but continues to smoke so that he has something to do with his brother in law. The man that promotes running with ‘your flow.’

Anyways, I just want to thank all of the girls for helping me along the way! I could not have made it this far in the program with out them.

Oh, and I just want to share that I saw a man wearing some sort of flame colored tights this weekend, so don’t forget to keep passing on the word about men and tights.