Snowy morning.

Beautiful morning. Too bad on my way to work and not the ski hill.

Second Annual Freeze Your Thorns Off 5K!

Was planning on a 8:00am run start, but last nights snow, although only an inch or so, left the roads pretty slick. I postponed my start until 12:30. Warmer than last Saturday, but a nasty wind today. I chose an out and back route starting and ending at my mailbox. Of course, as always the wind was in my face on the back portion.

Here is a picture on the way out. The roads cleared off pretty good by the time I started. Still some ice and snow on the corners in the shade.

 

This picture was on the way back. Hill was better on the way out, downhill and wind at back. On the way back it was, obviously uphill, but also wind in my face. Even though it was warmer this Saturday than last the wind made it feel about the same.

I thought it would be cool to show how hard the wind was blowing by snapping a picture of the homemade wind gauge on our swing-set. I know, a still pictures not going to show how fast its spinning. Oh well, I tried. I am impressed with my iPhone 4s and the fact that the propeller was spinning out of control where it looked like a yellow circle and the iPhone's camera froze it like it was not even moving.

Finally, a pic with my race bid. Finish time was 00:24:24. Didn't do mile splits, but took one at the turn around. Out in 00:12:09 and back in 00:12:15.

Happy Running Everyone...and thanks Adam, for setting up the Second Annual Freeze Your Thorns Off 5K Virtual Race !

#TwitterRoadRace 5k

I participated in the inaugural Twitter Road Race last Saturday.
The Inaugural Twitter Road Race
Date: January 21st, 2012
Location: Everywhere!
Distance: 5K
See I run because.... blog for all the details and race results. 

I originally planned run at 7am, but with the snow the night before and the freezing temperature I moved the start to 11am. Still cold, but sun was out and the snowplows had time to do their job.

I chose @hellomisspotter's race bib design and printed out the race bib. I got to pick my own number, so I took infinity. Not to be mistaken for my finishing time, I wasn't quite that slow.

My race route was an out and back course, start and finish at my mailbox. Here is a picture of mid-course. Even though it was only ten degrees, the sun had melted the snow off the road. I started out at a good pace and felt good until the beginning of the last mile. Sucking in that 10F temp air made my lungs resist deep breaths. I had to slow up a little to recover, but finished strong once I got back in my neighborhood.

Here are my results: Finishing time 00:24:34, 79/376 Overall, 67/174 Male, 13/44 M40-49. At the end I made some snow angels. I guess they count as a combination post run stretch and ice bath. I am glad I participated in this virtual event. I had a lot of fun with it.

Thanks Doug, @seedouglasrun , for creating and hosting this event.

Home for the Holidays Virtual 10K

Just finished running my #HolidayVirtual10K. Start time was 11:30am CST. Temp 34F, sunny, with a 10MPH SW wind. Nice day for a race, but the weather, along with no snow, sure doesn't make it feel like Christmas Eve in Wisconsin.
Had one person with about 1K to go yell out, "Nice day for a run, keep going". Motivated me to step up the pace and finish strong. 
Ran the USATF - America's Running Routes - LARC fun run, Waterford 10k loop
Results: Time of 51:55 minutes, ~8:21/mile
For the what and why, check out this blog, runforfun-stephanie.

Signed up for a Virtual 10K

Just signed up for the Home for the Holidays Virtual 10K race. What a fun idea. I am glad the directors, Ashley from Healthy Happier Bear, Robin from Westford Mommy, and Stephanie from Run for Fun put this together. And the detail they put into the Activity Waiver & Terms and Conditions is amazing. Looking forward to running my race, most likely on Christmas Eve. I'll post my race here shortly after. And all because I check Twitter once in awhile. Okay, maybe more than once in awhile, lately.

I'm back, or more accurate, still here

Oh my goodness, it's almost the end of 2011 and I still haven't run my second marathon. Back in 2009, I had my focus on the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon and was training to run it with Andy. Well Andy ended up breaking a bone in his foot just after my last 2009 post and I got side tracked and never made it to Green Bay that spring. I see for 2012, because of the Lambough Field renovations, that the Marathon won't go through the stadium, so I'll pass on it again. I mean I want to run through the stadium if I am going to do it.

As for me, I am still running strong and injury free. The blog has sat idle since March 2009, but the title is still relevant. I do still plan to run a second marathon sometime in the future. Race venue and date yet to be determined.

Missed the fun run tonight

Work trumped running tonight. Busy day at work and did not leave until 8pm. My weekly sorta long run that I have labeled the fun run on my calender because I am doing it on the same night that the Lakes Area Running Club used to do the fun run. It is fun to run the routes I did so many times with Tom, Ron, and others. The Tuesday night fun runs consisted of a run at 6pm followed by dinner at 7pm. We usually ran for 45-50 minutes and each week would be at a different venue. The locations were selected by Tom and Joey and varied between Burlington, Lyons, Lake Geneva, Elkhorn, East Troy, Waterford, and a few others. One perk of being a one man fun run is that I can change the day when needed. This week my run will be on Wednesday. Daylight savings time was last weekend, so I should be running in the light for the first time in a long time.