Day Twenty-Seven

Miles: 7
Time: 1:00:09
Pace: 8:35
Splits: 8:37, 8:30. 8:30 8:34, 8:35, 8:38, 8:41

I skipped yesterday's 5 miler because I was going to be moving my shit/moving furniture in a new dorm room all day (it took us about 4 hours) and that counted as a workout. I totally worked up a sweat (especially when making my bed on my loft... eek!)

TODAY'S run, however, went really well. I worked up the courage to run outside. It was 24 degrees with about 9 mph winds (though they were basically CONSTANT for the first half of my run, so my face felt pretty cold/numb/windburnt when I got home). I ran REALLY consistent splits, which made me pretty happy. :) My knee hurt for miles 5 and 6, but really eased up on the last mile, which was good. I only stopped, like, 4 times, too. Twice for traffic, twice to try to warm up my face. :P

I ran on the trail because I didn't want to run on the treadmill or have to fight people's sidewalks or traffic, and it worked out pretty well. There were a few spots where ice was all the way across the path, so I had to run on the ice/snow bits on the side where the grass is, which was fun because it was really crunchy. I could tell where ice really affected my pace though, because the faster miles were also dry miles and they just FELT faster. It was nice to have something to think about (dodging ice) instead of just running, like on the track. Though the track is nice, I'm an outdoors runner at heart. :)

I totally saw a duck with a broken wing, though, when I was running around the lake, and it totally broke my heart. Because how is it going to fly south for the winter if it can't even fly away from me? I felt so bad for it, because it was scared of me but couldn't go anywhere. At least I'm a nice person and don't terrorize ducks.

On the subject of birds, though, there were a ton of geese and a few ducks still hanging around. WTF? Shouldn't they be flying south for the winter? I mean, it's December. And it's Iowa. There's ice and snow and COLD everywhere! Were they just as surprised by the foot of snow we got a week ago as all we humans were?

Hmmph. Anyway, pretty decent run. I have to work from 11-6 tomorrow, so I will have to run in the morning. 6 miles outside in the AM when it's colder, on the treadmill where I won't have any motivation? Ugh, temperatures will tell.

Oh, and my knee is sort of sore just sitting here. Ugh... I want to go see what's wrong with the damn thing.