Run for Your Life

So just when I was on the verge of a serious pre-race panic, today I had the best run (physically, mentally and emotionally) of the last few months.

Hold on to your seats, folks, this is where it gets exciting. Cindy and I did 6 miles today in one hour and 8 minutes, which included only 4 minutes of walking! I still can't believe it myself. That means we logged over an hour of solid running time!  AND, wait for it, much of it was on snow and/or mud!  I can not tell you how hard it is to run on either of these surfaces.  When running through mud, your feet get suctioned in and you have to pull a little with each step to keep moving. Plus, the whole time you're thinking "gross, gross, ick, ick." (There was a lot of squealing out of both of us.) Snow, while not as slick as ice, can still be slippery; you have to constantly brace yourself so you won't fall on your bum (neither of us did).

Basically, the above paragraph could be summarized by saying: we are hardcore.

Prior to today, the longest I've run since October was when I did 3.5 miles the day after Christmas (and blogged about it.) The day after that I started getting sick, I ended up taking a week off and then when I got back into it, I had lost a lot of stamina.  Since then I've only been doing  a few miles at a time and even then I've been walking a lot instead of running.

But it helps to have a partner. We both agreed today that we would not have gotten far without the other to keep us company ( in the beginning) or push us when we wanted to quit (nearer the end).

Cindy is also my partner for the Hot Chocolate 10k (6.1 miles) in Asheville next Saturday. Asheville, as most of you should know, is considered mountainous, but this race is billed as "Asheville's flatest 10k!" This is exceptionally good, since I kind of refuse to train on hills.  I've looked at the course online and it appears to be mostly flat with one sweet downhill at the beginning and one horrific uphill right at the end.

Today's run was a big confidence booster, and I feel ready to take on the 10k!

PS It is beautiful to run in a snowy setting. See below.