A Hot Mess!

Yesterday's run marked day 84 of my year long running challenge. I was planning on going to the gym and hitting the treadmill, but I ended up having a "running date" with my friend Megan who lives in Chicago. We both go out for a run at the same time and then talk about our run after. Since Megan was running outside, I decided I could tough out the weather, too. So I headed out, sans Yak Trax, which was a mistake I would soon be paying for. I was having a nice run, about 2 miles in, when I took a turn. My arms were flapping, I let out a yell, and ... I caught myself. Whew. After a quick look around I confirmed that no one had seen my amateur ballet moves. I was safe.

Boy was I wrong!

I had only taken a few more steps when I hit an ice patch and hit the ground, my left knee taking the brunt of the fall. I got back up, looked around for a second time to make sure no one had seen me wipe out, brushed the snow off of my pants, and decided to head for home. I felt fine for the rest of the night. My knee was a little red and I could see a bruise starting to form, but no pain. Until this morning. When I woke up my knee felt so stiff - I thought I had slept wrong until I remembered my embarassing skid across the ice. It's not terrible, but I have definitely decided that today is a treadmill day!

Have you ever had any embarassing running moments?

Adventurous

I braved the snow and (crazy!) wind today to participate in my third virtual run this month: Freeze Your Thorns Off 5K. I bundled up, put on my printable race bib, and headed out into the elements.

It was a beautiful day; it had just snowed earlier that morning so I headed out feeling great. Then, the wind hit. My nose was running faster than I was, my eyes were watering, and I couldn't catch my breath! But it came in spurts, so I was able to keep going and brace for the next gust of wind. When the wind wasn't blowing, the conditions were perfect! I was able to use my YakTrax that I got for Christmas, and I enjoyed the run. Here is what my race course looked like:

I crossed the finish line (in other words, my driveway) with a time of 26:40. Just about a minute over my 5K PR time - not bad for a snowy (windy!) winter run! I love the idea of a virtual run, and the race bib made it even more fun. Earlier this month I ran the Nike+ Women's Half Marathon (2:09:20) and the #TwitterRoadRace 5K (24:25 - but on a treadmill ... a little easier than an outside run!).

I am multi-tasking with this run today. Last week I took place in a football bet on the Giants vs. 49ers game (check out the rules here). I lost the bet, and had to run the difference in points of the final score of the game in miles, which was conveniently 3. I am not usually a football fan, but this sounded like fun and I was on the edge of my seat during the game. This bet is continuing into the Superbowl, and I am trying my luck again. I can't lose twice, can I?

I started a challenge with my two running buddies: to run every day for a year. Easier said than done! It was exciting at first, then it turned to annoying. But I think I have officially made it a habit, and it is becoming less of a pain than it was. Today's run marked day 83. That's almost 12 weeks straight! There are days when I go out grumbling, and days that don't make it over 1 mile, but no matter what, it gets done!

I am going to use this blog to share about my day to day running experiences, talk about any great (or not so great) races that I run, and to find out about other runners and races! Each day I will add something different that running helps me to do or become. Today, it was adventurous ... who knows what else running will do for me!