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March 15, 2006

Spring Preview

This past weekend, we got a nice little preview of the spring weather. For one glorious day (Saturday), it was 60 and sunny and absolutely beautiful. Sunday wasn't too bad, either - it was closer to 50 and cloudy, but it was still warmer than it has been. Of course, it's far too early in the year for that sort of weather to be sticking around for long, but for those two days? It was nice. This was the weekend that gives you hope that spring will indeed come and it won't always be cold forever.

The nice weather meant that this weekend was also an awesome weekend to run. When I heard the forecast mid-week, I began to look forward to Saturday's run like it was an oasis in a desert. I'd be able to run outside! In shorts! Without having to worry about layering up or being cold or anything like that! In shorts! I was so freaking excited, it wasn't even funny. Whenever work felt like it was dragging and the weekend was never going to arrive, I thought about running in the warm sunny weather on the lake.

While I was determined to wear shorts for my run on Saturday, I figured I'd have to go with long sleeves on top, since it probably wouldn't be much warmer than 50 first thing in the morning. Imagine my surprise when I checked the weather before heading out Saturday morning and saw that the temperature was already 60. 60! At 9:30 in the morning! Forget the long sleeves - shorts and short short sleeves all the way! I practically bounced out the door and proceeded to fly through my 5 mile run. I didn't just feel like I flew through it - I actually did. Normally, an "easy" 5 mile run will take me something around 55 - 60 minutes. Saturdays run? Was over in 51. Now, I knew I was going a bit too fast, since my HRM wasn't displaying the sort of numbers I usually see during 'easy' runs. I tried telling myself to slow down. I tried thinking really hard about relaxing and slowing down. I swear I did, but it just didn't take. I kept flying. When I finished, I definitely didn't feel like I'd just run an "easy" 5 miles. However, on the flip side, I didn't feel like I'd run a particularly hard 5 miles, either.

While it was lovely and warm Saturday morning there was, however, a cool breeze blowing. Since it was 60 (60!) degrees outside, I didn't bother covering my ears before I headed out. I didn't realize how big of a mistake this was until I got back into my apartment. Once my ears were no longer being bombarded with a cold wind, they were throbbing. Not a good time, but greatly preferable to the massive sunburn I used to get every year in college on the First Warm Day Of Pre-Spring.

Sunday's long run was just as good. It was a little cooler (45-50), so long sleeves were a necessity, but I was still fine in shorts. Most of my long runs until now have been at a 12:30 pace or so, but this one I flew through at a 12:00 pace, and didn't really notice much of a difference. All that ass-busting speedwork I'm doing must be paying off! I was supposed to run 12-13 miles, but due to a scheduling error, I only had time for 11.5. Still, it was an awesome 11.5, and if I'd had time, I could have easily finished the 13 miles out at the same pace. I love this feeling of finishing long runs with gas left in the tank. When I was doing all this last year, I finished most of my long runs tired and spent. I may be doing the long runs at a slightly slower pace now, but they feel so much better. This weekend's run, while not quite as long as it was supposed to be, made me feel confident about the half-marathon I'm running next weekend. (Which, since the weather was so nice last weekend, we will probably have snow for.) I don't think I'm in quite enough shape to set a PR or anything (especially since my PR is on a flat course and next weekend's race will be hilly), but I do think I'll be able to go out, have fun, and run a good solid race.

And, who knows? Maybe I'll surprise myself. We shall see.

Posted by Dawn at March 15, 2006 04:48 PM