Some Stuff About Running

I haven't talked about running recently, not since the marathon, really.  I had a hard recovery from my injury.  I spent the Summer doing workout videos in my living room.  As I got feeling better, I spent the fall pushing the kids around town on stroller runs.  Then it got cold.  Cold enough and icy enough that no amount of weather shield, heated rice bags, coats, hats, boots and blankets was going to be good enough to take my kids out in the stroller, so I stopped running for a few months.

I worked out on Spiff's new rowing machine, which is a great workout.

But then I signed up for the Salt Lake City Half Marathon in April (Gah!!!  I'm so excited!), and it kept being cold and icy outside.  So we bought this:

I really don't think I could be more in love with a piece of indoor exercise equipment.  I LOVE this machine.  It is fabulous and oh, so convenient.  But I really love that I can run and train, whether or not Spiff is working or the kids are sleeping.

So, my hip is finally healed now (thank goodness!), and I'm in the middle of my Half training, and my first 10-miler rolled around a couple weeks ago.  It was cold and icy outside, so I chicken-out on the outdoor run, and I ran the whole thing on the treadmill.  It was long and hard, but fine.  I watched a movie while I ran.  I picked up the speed near the end because I was tired of being on the treadmill, but it was fine.

The strangest thing was knowing that I had run a long distance, but really hadn't gone anywhere.

So when the next long run came around (just a 6-miler this time), I was determined to get outside and run.  I did, despite the warnings from Gunner who told me it was too icy to run outside.  He was right.  It was too icy.  I slipped and slid all around the paths and sidewalks.  I thought I would break an ankle.  Oh, and it had been raining, and the snow was melting, and I had to trudge through 2-inch-deep icy puddles.  So, my feet were wet and cold, I was sloshing with every step, and I was sliding around, and miserable, and cursing the fact that I had felt adventurous and determined to get fresh air.  It really was so awful for two miles (think 2 miles in 25 minutes) until I decided to ditch the sidewalks and just run on the road.  I'm sure the drivers were cursing me, but I felt safer and happier, and faster (last 4 miles in 35 min.), even though my feet were still wet and sloshy.  Blech, those are my very least favorite running conditions.

So, anyway, we have had the same weather this week.  Piles of snow earlier this week, and by the weekend it is raining, and freezing rain in places.  I'm already trying to think of a good movie to keep me company during tomorrow's Treadmill 10-miler.

In other running news, though, is the fact that I found a new running partner!  A friend from my ward.  I ran with her for the first time the other night, and it was really fun.  We will probably run once a week together.  But it was so fun to run with someone again, and I was feeling so happy, and then got home and realized that this happened:

That is my 13-year-old orthotic, the ones I wear in my running shoes since having foot surgery when I was in college, cracked in two.  Total bummer!  I'm hoping to replace them with a running-specific shoe insert.  I'm hoping I really don't need them all that badly. 

Anyway, despite the issues, I'm happy to be back on my feet and back in training, working on a goal, and getting in better shape.  Running Rocks!