Day Two, Week One

Winter is brewing all around where I live.

My Dad, who lives in Toronto, called to tell me that they were having one heck of a storm. Even though he is about three plus hours from here, we will end up being the recipient of bad weather in about six hours.

Here, in Ottawa, the day was damp, raw and overcast. We had snow showers throughout the day. Looking out from my office window this afternoon, there was a fleeting moment of self sabotage. We’ve all done it to ourselves, "oh, it’s not that nice out, so I’ll just go home and run...mmmm, on Saturday".

Today is only day two of marathon training. A 10K Tempo run. Now if I was to run with my new running group, I would drive home, grab a quick bite to eat, change into my running clothes and turn around and drive another forty-five minutes back into town to run with the group.

Okay, I know, enough whining, give your head a shake, this is your choice, you decided to do this, no one has forced you and IT’S ONLY DAY TWO....really, it’s not that bad.

Luckily, I had the opportunity to leave the office almost on time today and head home. The afternoon was brightening up and there was still a fair amount of overcast natural daylight left in the afternoon.

Volia! A light bulb moment, I will run my 10K from home! Wow, that felt great, to make a decision that was so pro-active.

10K Tempo

The running conditions this afternoon were cold, raw, damp, -5 degrees Celsius with a wind chill of -12. The wind was coming from the north, north east at 26 km/hr....brrr.....

Out came the toque, neck cowl, another layer on top. Once suited up, I tied up my laces and out I went. Luckily the roadways around the Bay were clear and not slippery. Much better footing than last night, for sure. Heading off into the wind it took me a few kilometres to warm up (literally) and get my breathing and cadence consistent.

Considering this was to be a tempo run and I was feeling a little logie, 10:1's were included to the run. I have to admit, even though it took a while to get going, once I was out and running everything just seemed to fall into place and it was a very enjoyable run.

Fortunately, the days are staying lighter longer, which allowed me to absorb some natural daylight into my system. Not sure about you, but by February my body is craving sunlight....no matter how diffused.

All in all, even though I missed the group run in town, I’m very happy with my decision to run the 10K on my own, one more run down.......many more to come.

Tomorrow night, 8K steady run, talk with you then.

Life’s fun if you don’t weaken, enjoy your journey one step at a time.

Lily