-17 C and 17 kms

Joy here...Saturday morning arrived bright and crisp.  And when I say "crisp," I mean crrriiiisssppp!  The sun was bright and the sky was blue and the temperature was just around -17 C.  The wind was blowing and it was DAMN COLD.  But knowing that Sunday would be -25 C (and -39 C if you count the windchill factor), we knew that we'd rather be running in -17 C than -25 C so escaping Saturday's long run was just not an option.  I mean, even if I end up skipping/substituting other runs and workouts, I really can't afford to miss these weekly long runs, because those are the ones that will help me build up my endurance for the 30km running race at the end of March.  So we bundled ourselves up, laced up our shoes, charged up the Garmin, and out the door we went.

The Mighty Running Ninja!

It was painful.

It was cold.

It was uncomfortable.

It was windy.

But we triumphed.

We planned to run for 100 minutes (building 10 more minutes on our previous 90 minute long run), so that's a run out there in those conditions for nearly 2 hours.  We each had one GU at the 50 minute mark, and I was in charge of carrying the water.  And despite the discomfort due to the ferocity of the weather,* we had a pretty good run.  We talked, whinged, complained, and generally took the time to reconnect as husband and wife out there under the bright winter sky.  And, most importantly, we were able to check off that long run on the week's list of planned workouts.

Positive Outlook Ninja!

I also decided that instead of feeling bad about all the workouts I miss or all the goals that I set and somehow fall short of, I need to focus on the successes that I do have.  It's just a simple thing, but I think it's an important thing.

Running - for me, for Nomi, for The Man, for our friends (like Lulu and AK) - is not just about getting out there and jogging, but it's also about making certain lifestyle choices and commitments.  Those can be anything from being healthier to being thinner to making time for oneself to reaching one's goals to having fun.  And I'm going to add to that list using running as a way to force myself to have a positive outlook on the world.

The connection between running and one's attitude has been documented by lots of people (think about the famed "runner's high"), and I just need to tap into that positivity and not be down on myself.  Yeah, sure, I missed some planned runs this week, but I also pulled off an hour and forty minute run in the freakin' cold, when last year at this time, I'd be lucky to pull off a forty minute run on a treadmill once a week.  It's really all about perspective, and I've gotta keep mine positive!

So here are my run stats for Saturday's long, cold run:
Ran for a total of 1:43:03 for a distance of 16.63km with an average pace of 6:12min/km.

Over and out,
Joy

*This is a quotation from one of our friends who was sitting in his office at the local university waiting for a student to show up for an appointment who opened his email to read a message from the student:  "Due to the ferocity of the weather, I cannot make my appointment."  Of course, our friend, the professor, had to battle that same weather's ferocity to get there, but I guess the weather is more ferocious when you're an undergrad than when you're a professor.