Il Fait Froid Aujourd'hui

Today, with the current temp reading 8F, is a good day for running... indoors. Yesterday, with AM temperatures hovering in the mid-teens, was a good day for running...outdoors. Basically single digits  are my limit.

Yesterday, for a change, a group of Trail Hawks met at the river trails and scampered through 1, 2, or 3 of the 10.4 mi. loops that the trails offer. One loop was my preference for the morning. I mean, I'll run when it is cold, but I'm not going to do a marathon in it. It was good to note that after running on the much more difficult Clinton North Shore Trails for the past month or so, I finished the river trails yesterday with what felt like a lot left in the tank.

Photo Credit - Bill Loats via a Selfie Stick (Bill was doing 30 miles in the cold yesterday). This pic was taken after we had finished a 10.4 mi. loop.

Interestingly enough (at least to me), this has been the winter of my discontent. I am content because my training is going well, with improvement in speed, strength, and distance. Defying all logic, I also seem to have been able to run my way out of separate long-term ankle and hamstring injuries. And that is with quite a bit of road workouts since the trails have been pretty muddy and unusable throughout much of the early winter. While I have been doing stretches taught to me by a physical therapist, undergone therapeutic massage, and cross-trained by biking and swimming, nothing really had seemed to work. I never even had a lessening of pain until one day both issues simply vanished.

Now, about a month out from real pain, I've been able to concentrate on other aspects of my running. Hill repeats and speed workouts are putting me in a position to really be fit when mid-late February rolls around and I begin adding distance in order to prepare for a trail marathon and a 50k race in April. Anyway, I feel very relaxed and confident in my training - likely due to the simple relief of being injury-free.

In other news, Ad Astra running hosted a lecture about running and literature last week. They asked me if I would bring some extra copies of RUN to sell. Of course! The lecture by Dan Kuhlman was fun and informative. The wine, beer, and hors d'oeuvres provided by Ad Astra were very much appreciated - I mean, when isn't booze and food a good thing? The store, which in its short life, has become an important part of the Lawrence running scene, was absolutely packed with runners. It is never surprising to note that runners seem to read a lot more than the general population. With all the time spent running and ruminating, the gravitational tug of the screen seems to be less strong than the pull of the page. Just run in a group of trail runners sometime, and you'll find that half of the conversation seems to be about what someone is reading. The other half of the conversation is, of course, reserved for talk about training or bodily functions. Some things never change...

A few of the books from the Running and Lit lecture

Copies of RUN for sale at Ad Astra's Running and Lit lecture

Photo credit - Gary Henry/Ad Astra Running