Catching up

I didn't run much in December although I had great intentions.
On Christmas Eve, I managed a run to Grimm's gate (3.6-ish miles) in the best time I've even done on this route. Then, on New Year's Eve, I did a run up to the golf course club house and back. It was a decent time, but I was tired from doing something the day before. (I can't remember what, now.)

Last Saturday, Lizzy and I decided to enjoy the fresh snow and run in the canyon behind our house. Two miles uphill in powder was pretty hard. We weren't the first ones out on the road, so we were running where a few snowmobiles, show shoers (is that a word?), and cross country skiers had already gone. It's definitely easier to run in ski tracks as the snow is packed down a bit. These two miles are almost a constant grade. It's an elevation gain of only about 350 feet, but it's all uphill. My pace was about 14:11 mpm going up. At the top, I met two people on horseback and their dog. They decided to go ahead of me to separate our dogs (who just wanted to walk in circles and smell each other). That was probably a mistake on my part because it turns out that horses really churn up the snow and make the footing even MORE unstable! My return pace was just barely over 12 mpm. It was COLD, COLD, COLD, but a beautiful run. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the trees and scrub oak had snow piled on even the smallest branches and twigs. When looking up, it was like looking at a blue, white and black jigsaw puzzle. We even heard a woodpecker (but couldn't find him). The only downside of this run was the fact that I had to stop about every three minutes to remove packed snow from the pads of Lizzy's feet. She loves running and playing in the snow, but her hairy little feet really pay for it.

Yesterday was another COLD run. This time, I stayed in town. My legs were TIRED from the powder run the day before since I had spent a good deal of time slipping and sliding and altering my pace and form to adjust to the snow pack. So, we just did the USU loop (about 4.5 miles). My pace was slower than I would have liked at 11:43 mpm, but I'm not surprised by it.

I did receive an e-mail from the team captain for the relay in June. A little tiny part of me was hoping that they had forgotten about my crazy reply to their search for a team member, but it looks like I'm really in this thing. I just need to train and pay my fee. I'm excited, but definintely scared! I would hate to let them down by not training enough - but, I guess that's the point.