A brutal 5 mile run

Or how I really should have stayed inside and NOT run.

First day of Spring. (Also, The Great American Meat-out Day). And it snows. About 3" I would say. Was about 30 degrees at 7am. And had winds up to 22mph, normally around 18mph.

And I went out for a run anyway.

The smartest thing I ever did was to change up my route so that I would run the last mile with the wind at my back.

I ran 1.5 miles south with the wind. Turned around to run 2.5 into the wind, a cold-biting, snow-stinging few miles. Then I turned around and it was a fast last mile thanks to the genius plan of mine.

But otherwise, in that 2.5 heading north into the wind, I was cursing myself. Luckily, I brought enough clothes with me to keep myself warm but I grabbed a HUGE sweatshirt from Luke's closet anyway. Kinda glad I grabbed it. The snow was totally hurting against my cheeks. Underneath my chin it was frozen. The skin under my watch was being burned because it was exposed to air so that my GPS watch could be seen.

But as I said the last mile was a breeze. I really felt my speed pick up. It chased those negative thoughts out of my head that's for sure. Cause I was having some serious doubts.

Friday night, I grabbed a tennis ball from Luke's closet and I laid my hip against it. That was amazing. Then I put it under my hamstring but it's so big & thick that it was hard to find that spot that was sore. But still I fulfilled my daydreams from earlier that day!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 675 ft Location: Geneva, IL Elev. Gain: +7 ft Date: 03/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+108/-101] Time: 07:50 AM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Weather: Light Snow Fog/Mist 32 F temp; 92% humidity 32 F heat index; winds N 17 G 26 Performance Distance: 5.14 miles Time: 0:49:41 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 40 /mi Calories: 550 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 04 -0' 36 6.6 +0.4 +6 ft 2 9' 26 -0' 14 6.3 +0.1 -9 ft 3 9' 48 +0' 08 6.1 -0.1 0 ft 4 10' 18 +0' 38 5.8 -0.4 +10 ft 5 9' 57 +0' 17 6.0 -0.2 +6 ft end 8' 03 -1' 37 7.4 +1.2 -6 ft Versus average of 9' 40 min/mile

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Categories: 5 miles, Fox River Trail, Geneva, hamstring, hip