As I mentioned in an earlier post, this New Hampshire winter has been has been a tough one. Although snowstorms have not been frequent, we have had a few whoppers that have dropped significant accumulation. This has also been one of the colder winters I have experienced up here, and the snow that has fallen has not gone away, and is beginning to pile up.
Yesterday was one of those wonderful winter days that makes you start to think that maybe we have turned the corner toward spring. The sun was shining, and the temperature rose into the high 40’s, creating steady streams of water that poured off my roof from the melting snow. The best part about a day like this for me is that it let me get back outside for a long, albeit wet, run. My dog and I went for an easy 8 miles at an 8:30 pace, and I felt reasonably fresh at the end, which lends me some hope that my running fitness has not entirely deteriorated. Although most of the sidewalks are still messy, and the puddles of melting snow created something of a minefield (especially for the dog, who is a water lover but seems to think these puddles are filled with acid and won’t go near them), it was great to get outside without having to put on 3-4 layers of clothes. I know that this was just an early tease and that winter has a lot of life left, but it is a day like this that reminds me why I love to run.
Although my marathon training is off to a pretty slow start, and a rapid mileage increase is going to be needed, I’m probably in better shape than I was at the beginning of my training cycle last winter, and the running bug is starting to return. For the sake of my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, yesterday was exactly what I needed!
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