Spring Training

The other day I woke up knowing I had 5 miles to run. I knew snow was in the forecast, but was hoping that for some reason it would be a beautiful morning. As I peeked out my shutters, there it was...that white stuff...all over my grass. Yikes!! (as Kade would say) I laid back in my nice warm bed for a minute, but the nagging reminder that my half marathon is not getting any further away got me back out of bed and dressed in my gear. I stretched, poured 2 bowls of honey nut Cheerios's for Kaden and Rylie, and headed out the door. The snow was coming down, but I had been out in worse. I started to run and for the first time in a long while nothing hurt. It felt so good. As I continued on I got lost in thought (and the tunes on my i-pod). The only thing annoying me was the snow blowing into my face. By about the 3rd mile or so I looked down and saw the front of my black sweatshirt was caked with snow. I could feel warm tears running down my cold cheeks. Every once in a while a huge white flake would land on my cheek or the tip of my nose, and then slowly melt away. I was thinking to myself, why do I love this so much? Am I crazy? I should be home in my nice cozy bed, but instead I am out here pounding the pavement in the cold. Fast forward to today. It was beautiful, a little breezy, but such a nice day. I then realized why I train through all of those cold, miserable days. To get to the warm, beautiful days. Days that I head out early in the morning, and watch the sun rise up over the mountains. I never thought it would be, but running is just a part of me that I love so much. I love the sense of accomplishment it gives me. Especially on days that it feels like I've not been able to accomplish much else. Anyways, I am beginning to sense those warmer days becoming more and more prevalent and it makes me so flippin' excited! Can't wait to ditch the ear-muffs, gloves, and sweatshirts... I'm on the lookout for the perfect running skirt. That Salt Lake half is going to be here before I know it. That flu set me back a bit- but I am starting to make some progress again! Yay!

p.s. If anyone is interested in putting in for the St. George Marathon (April 1st) let me know. We can get a whole gang of us together- it would be so much stinkin' (you wonder where my kids get that) fun!!! Think it over :)