Been a while since I've posted...

We've simply been super busy. I should be working now, even. But I had a relatively good run today, so I figured I'd update my blog.

I've been putting in lots of miles -- staying on track with my schedule. Today was a 'speed work' day, which I always 'love'. I had to do 4 miles of 7:02 or better pace, but the closest I got was 7:07 on the first mile. I'd like to blame it on the wind or hills, but (as much as they were both factors on my route) I think that I just didn't have enough strength to keep it that fast for that long. My 'speed' laps were 7:07, 7:14, 7:13 and 7:22. The warm up, cool-down and mid-speed miles jogs were at an easy pace -- but my overall pace for the 8 mile run was 8:05 minutes per mile -- almost my marathon pace! I worked hard, though, and my muscles certainly felt it. But I probably need to do more.

We've had some brutal runs over the past couple of weeks, though. Last weekend, five of us ran from Parkhill to just west of Lucan in -13 degree weather with 45 km/h winds at our backs. I may have got a bit of frostbite on the back of my neck which must have been exposed a bit. It was a 2+ hour run over 16 miles -- including a couple of segments back-tracking into the wind -- and a couple of runs in, basically, white-out conditions on the roads. Lots of fun!

Another weekend (with similar winds) we did 15 miles in McNaughton Park in Exeter, trying to stay within the trails (and trees) within the park. We had company, meeting up with Rita Lewis and Mary Ondrejicka for a few miles, and then later Ian Trotter who wisely decided to battle the trails rather than the wide open roads.

On another windy day, Brian and I did hill work and kept a pretty reasonable pace considering winds that were so strong I had to run on an side-angle -- or at least how it felt.

Anyhow, suffice it to say that there have been some brutally cold and windy runs that we've done over the past several weeks. But, both Brian and I are booked for the Shamrock Marathon in Virgina Beach -- and Jenny, Bridget, Brian and I will be making the trek to Virgina Beach in exactly 1 month!