Hope Springs....at 16 Degrees

Today I had the first good run in a month. I ate bread this week! I had rice! I had spaghetti! I ate like a normal runner!

I ate clean for the most part, but not Paleo/Primal and it made a HUGE DIFFERENCE. The bread was Ezekiel sprouted bread--the English muffins are excellent, the sandwich bread.... not so much. The rice was inside sushi, so it wasn't whole grain and not technically "clean eating," but overall fairly healthy (well, as far as fried shrimp and full-fat cream cheese are healthy---the seaweed makes up for it, right?). The best part was the spicy crab on top--Yum! I had plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (kale, anyone? I have a superb recipe for sauteed kale with red pepper flakes and garlic---I call it Krispy Kale and even my 4-year old loves it), a few whole grains, lowfat dairy, healthy fat via avocado and nuts, and lean meat. I would call it moderate carb rather than high carb, but it worked.

I met up with about 12 other people, including 3 whom I am training for a half-marathon at 8:00 a.m. this morning. IT WAS 16 DEGREES!!! That may not sound like much to some of you, but I live in the South, people, and it's just not supposed to be that cold! We got snow on Thursday and missed our 5th snow day (already) on Friday, but the roads were scraped enough for us to run outside this morning. I had 8 miles on the training plan, and I ended up with 8.3 from doubling back occasionally to check on runners. The overall average pace was 10:31, much better from last week where I died a slow death in miles 6-9.

Have you heard the expression, "There's no bad running weather, just poor clothing choices" or something similar? Well, today, I put that into action. I wore 13 items of clothing on this run including double socks, double gloves, fleece tights with pants on top, 2 shirts and a fleece, plus the usual undies, scarf, ear warmer. Overkill, you say? I say JUST RIGHT. I could not feel my feet for the first two miles, then the feeling returned (thank goodness). It was windy and even in mile 8, I was still slightly chilled, especially my face. It was a balmy 24 degrees at the end. Thank goodness for the sunshine. That helped more than anything.

But, most importantly, nutrition and weather aside, I felt like a runner again---even (dare I say it??) a "healthy" runner. My piriformis didn't hurt during the run, even when I was pushing the pace at sub-10 minute miles for a few miles. I fully went out planning an easy 11-minute pace, then a neighbor showed up who had just completed his first full marathon, and I found myself falling into step with him, even though he was going faster than I wanted to. The five miles I ran with him were at my tempo pace, and the 3 I did alone were more my normal pace. The minute I stopped running and sat down in my car, however, my piriformis reared it's ugly head with a spasm down my left leg. But, (here's the hopeful part) it only hurt AFTER the run instead of both during AND after the run. I'm calling that PROGRESS. :-)