DECISIONS, DECISIONS

This doesn’t happen very often. I had all morning to myself. Amy took the girls to the zoo. Normally, I’d go with, but she met a friend and her girls – so I was “off the hook.” Hmm, should I ski or run? Decisions, decisions.

With all that free time I really wanted to go back to Como Golf Course and get in a nice long ski. The only “problem” is that it was 35 degrees when I woke up and I didn’t know what the snow would be like. I didn’t want to drive 30 minutes only to find out the skiing was horrible. Instead of taking my chances, I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and get my long run in a day early. That way I wouldn’t have to be away from my family for nearly two and a half hours tomorrow.

Another reason I didn’t want to drive to go skiing is that we had freezing rain last night. While I’m sure the main roads were fine, the side streets were glare ice. Because of this, I waited till 9:30 before starting my run. I probably should have waited till 10 because the paths were slick for the first 30 minutes. But with the temps rising and sunny skies, the ice melted quickly.

I’ve been increasing my long runs by 1 mile each time. My last long run was 15 miles (2:07). Since I had another “floating” half mile in my logbook from earlier in the week, I thought I’d make this run 16.5 miles. Then I could bump my next long run to 18 miles. Actually, I’m basing this more on duration and using 8:30 pace as my guide. In reality I probably could have called today’s 2 hour and 20 minute run 17 miles. Part of the run included a 4-mile stretch that I have measured. I didn’t pick up the pace at all, the footing was poor and it’s hilly, yet I still ran that stretch at 8:10 pace.

So while the skier in me curses the warm temps for melting the snow, the running in me praises the weather for allowing me to get in a nice long run.