Yaktrax!!

I got started late in the day for my long run, but it wasn’t too cold. I started out with my ear warmers, but turned back after 1/3 mile and got my Headsokz thing instead. The wind was starting to pick up a little and my face was cold already. I also wore a heavy sweatshirt under my jacket to see if it would keep me warm. Big mistake. Too warm. Oh well.

Big news: I wore my Yaktrax from Santa! They felt a little funny going on, like the shoes were getting crushed or something, but once you stand up, they flatten out nicely. I thought they would feel lumpy to run on but they didn’t. They actually felt kinda springy. There were snowy, icy, and dirt patches on the road and it was better to not run on the dirt which worked out fine. No slipping on that run.

I ran my usual road run but added a full loop inside one neighborhood so that I could get 6 miles. I think I was scheduled for 4 but since I missed Saturday’s run, I stretched it.

The wind picked up for a large part of the run so I had my hood around my face, but then it died down and I had to pull the thing back off myhead because I was sweating too much. I had to open my jacket too because it was too hot with the sweatshirt. I need real running clothes. Soon.

And what is with the dogs? A springer spaniel came running out to see me and unlike that black dog last week, this one tried running behind me on top of my feet behind me, and got a heel jammed in his face as he stepped on them. I felt a little bad when I turned around to see him standing there looking puzzled about it. He wasn’t there on the way back.

I also came across some other runner’s footprints. He had the same stride length as me, maybe a little shorter and followed the same route though the side neighborhood. I finally caught a glimpse of him about 1/2 mile up the road as I neared the turnaround point. It felt a little funny to see someone on my route. :)

I passed the shaggy horses again and this time I was able to count them. Eleven all together but one seems to be kept separate, I’m thinking that’s a mare. And again, I couldn’t help but wonder what they though I was doing, but at least they were wondering about that other guy too. “Look! There’s two today!”

So, 6 miles, 57:53, 9:36 overall pace. Very nice. I want to make the long runs between 9:00 and 10:00. I didn’t try hard to keep it at 9:30, just didn’t let it get slower than 10:00 or faster than 9:00. On the hills it was a little hard not to slow way down, especially when it was windy, but atleast I’m running on real hills now and not the paved pave with little bumps. Better for those muddy road races. :)

Hope you all had a nice break for the holidays. I’ve got this week off. Yeah! But I won’t rub it in. :)

The scale is still being nice to me:

Starting weight: 182.6 (11/24/04)
Current weight: 174.0
Target weight: 170.0 (1/31/05)