Friday (Feb. 10), I ventured out on the ice and snow for a run. I took it slow, running around a nearby park and a boulevard that has a park strip in the middle of it. One lap is a just a tad over 1.5 miles.
On the path in the park, the snow was packed down but not too icy. Normally, when I run down this particular street, I run in the street. I doesn’t get a lot of traffic and most of the homeowners keep their cars in garages, so few cars are parked on the street. Friday, the street was fairly icy, particularly the intersections. So I ran down the sidewalk. I completed a lap with the intent of doing a second and maybe third lap.
After running to the next busy street my boulevard crosses, I decided to take a little detour. The street I turned onto wasn’t icy and it has a couple of nice hills in them. I went up that street, came to another that wasn’t icy and ran down that a block. Then I came to the hospital. The hospital has a running trail at the back end of its property, about a mile round trip. That trail wasn’t icy. I followed it out and back, came back to my boulevard and then back to the park, 5.2 miles. My longest run so far in 2017.
I felt really good. It was a slow run, thanks to the ice and snow. Although, I picked up the pace the mile or so I ran on dry pavement.
As the day wore on Friday, the temperatures rose. In fact, the low over night was above freezing, which meant, no ice today (Saturday).
My son and I went geocaching in this morning before a previous appointment he had. Together, we found four geocaches, including one hidden in a brick. Possible favorite point for that one. Love those ingenious cache containers.
While he was at his appointment, I ran 2.3 miles. I had planned to take it slowly, yet I ran my first mile nearly as fast as my pace for last week’s 5K race. And I didn’t realize I was running that fast. I kept trying to slow myself down. I ran a second mile, this one a tad slower.
I have run nearly every day this month. Normally, I run three days a week. Two runs of about 4 miles and a longer run. That was how I had planned to train for my half marathons last fall, yet my training never seemed to stay consistent. I’m writing this blog to keep me on task. I figure if I put it out there for the world to see, I’ll have to train on a consistent basis. Sunday, I plan to run about 3-4 miles on a fairly hilly course. I am signed up for a 20K race in late March. Yes, you read that correctly, 20 kilometers as in about 12.4 miles. Shorter than a half marathon, but still challenging for someone who has not been as consistent in his training as he’d like.
Running dangerously 