My mom, brother-in-law, and I were supposed to do the Smoke the Turkey 5k on Thanksgiving. I had not ever done a Turkey Trot event, so it was rather exciting. It poured rain all day Wednesday, including when we went to pick up our packets. They did not give us our chips and said that we would get them on Thursday. I thought that was a ridiculous system because what is the point of early packet pick-up if everyone is going to have to stand in line the next day for their chips anyway? It worked out fine, though, because we ended up skipping the race.
Wednesday night before we went to bed, we checked the weather for race time (9:00 a.m.). The forecast was snow showers from 6:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m. At 9:00 a.m., the snow would cease, but the temperature would have a “real feel” of 24 degrees. I imagined myself running through snow at 24 degrees temperature and really could not get excited about it. My mom and brother-in-law were feeling the same way, so we decided to sleep in instead.
I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and there was not a drop of snow to be seen. It had not snowed and never would snow the entire weekend. It was also a balmy 37 or so, with little wind. Technically I still could have made the race, but just didn’t want to. I think that I had already resigned myself to a day of laziness, so it was difficult to get motivated.
So I still haven’t turkey trotted. Oh, well. Maybe next year.
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Last weekend I treated myself and picked up a few cold weather running items. Specifically I got a long-sleeve Under Armour thermal top, a waterproof/windproof jacket, and a knit hat with wicking lining. Although it was not really cold enough for all that gear, I wanted to try it out so I wore it on my thirty minute run yesterday, along with my long pants.
About five minutes into the run, the thermal top started riding up. Every few moments it would inch higher and higher, exposing more and more of my belly to the effects of the weather, with only the jacket protecting it. Ten minutes into the run, I was essentially wearing a jacket over a long-sleeved tube top because the shirt had ridden all the way up to my sports bra.
I lifted the jacket and reached up and pulled the shirt down, exposing half of my back to the elements and the long line of traffic on the busy street next to me. (The one day I don’t run through the desolate neighborhood streets!) Luckily the traffic was one-way coming from behind me or else the drivers would have gotten an eye-full of belly.
After the third time of stopping my run to yank my shirt down, I got a brilliant idea! I will tuck the shirt into my pants! Luckily I had my jacket on because I sure that I was quite a sight with my shirt tucked in and my pants pulled up, just like Urkel.
Aside from that incident, all of the new gear worked very well. Of course it was too warm for it all (about 40 degrees), so I was sweaty by the time I finished the run. Today I added some new running gloves to the mix because the “magic stretch” gloves that I was using made my hands sweat. I thought that the gloves were $20, but when I check out, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they were half off. I like surprises like that.
I have been trying to figure out what my next goal should be running-wise.
Should I run another marathon? (Eugene and Anchorage are both intriguing for different reasons)
Should I train for a half marathon and try to set a new PR? (There is one in Springfield in the spring and I enjoyed the 5k I ran there in 2005).
Should I consider doing a triathlon? (I trained fairly seriously for one in 2006, but never got comfortable with the swimming).
I can’t decide. What do you all think?
cross-posted at Unpublished Opinion
As you may have heard, Katie Holmes ran the New York Marathon yesterday. This photo is what she was wearing just a few hours later at a premiere. Heels? Dress shoes of any kind? She must have some tough feet.
Photo from People.
I had a dream last night that I had to go run a marathon. Everyone was getting on a bus to go to the hotel. I think I may have been going to Las Vegas because lifestudent was there and she will be running the Vegas marathon.
I was all ready to go when I remembered to go back and get my toenail clipper. I got to the bus, carrying only my backpack, when all the other runners had big suitcases. Lifestudent asked me where my stuff was and I said “right here” holding up my bag, which had turned into a purse. I said that the rest of the stuff was in my backpack and then I all of a sudden remembered that I had already run a marathon and woke up.
Hopefully this will not be a recurring dream like the one that I have about college where I thought that I dropped a class and then realized that I had not, and had to take the exam that day.