February Run

This morning as I was serving tables the pub had the television tuned to a sports channel as usual, but instead of football or golf they were showing an indoor track meet! I ignored it for a while but the women's 1500meter run caught my eye and I watched the battle commence. Slowly it happened - "maybe I can do this again."
*Sigh* Here goes. Maybe its watching others do what I did for so long, pushing their bodies, ignoring their pains. Maybe its this time of year and the weather, the fact that no one is going outside anymore and its the perfect setting for the pavement solitude I crave. It always gets me. As much as I love cuddling up under a blanket to read all weekend or letting my body slim away from "fit" to "just thin," I always have a buried motivation waiting to emerge. My runner-self hibernates through summer, waiting for these gray skies and north winds.
So today I went for a run. Apparently I looked "hard core," as Rae told me when I sent him a text photo of my thermal-t-shirt-stalking-capped-and-gloved reflection in the door. Yep. So hard core, in fact, that I ran with a kitchen timer in my hand because my "swatch" finally died a few weeks ago. And I just had to track my time/distance. Ha!
I saw the usual passerby faces -
90% with expressions that say "are you freaking mad?!"
10% looking straight ahead, ignoring your existence as they reason away their initial twinge of jealousy with a spiteful mocking of your cold bones (mind you, this 10% are probably runners themselves or those capable of doing so.)
My lungs hurt and my right knee began shooting some minor pains near the end of my two miles (or 2.2 miles according to Google Maps. So with that info I figure I ran about the pace I was estimating, 9-minute miles. I'm ok with that.)
Anyway, I did it. We'll see where this goes. Maybe it will follow my usual cycle. Or maybe I'll actually sign up for a race and do something about it. I'll keep you updated on all the sweating (or lack thereof) in the near future.

Yep, it really happened.

(me running and me carrying a kitchen timer - both equally shocking)

super hot post-run bath & beer 

(beer more on the cold side, though)

bathing my carrot

Frankie's periscope

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

p.s.  sorry about the header still saying "Fall 2011," apparently I've hit my profile upload quota so I'm in the process of getting more storage. Till then, we'll pretend fall is extended till now.  :)