Cinderella story outta nowhere

"I don't think the heavy stuff will come down for a while"
- Carl Spackler (Bill Murray), "Caddyshack"

Weight: 157

Much like the best game of the Bishop's life in the movie - the good Lord, Mother Nature, or whatever figmentary creature or being you believe has controlled the weather has been strangely good to me.

Running & training in Buffalo, New York... outdoors... in the winter... with a 5:00 am start time... is not what anyone would call 'ideal'. In fact, it's pretty darn stupid. You have to have reasonable expectations of what you will accomplish. You have to know that sometimes, you're just not going to get your run in because it's too snowy (and there is no safe place to run) or too cold, or that you're going to get sick.

For this Disney Princess Half Marathon, I am basically following a 12 week program that generally calls for 5 days a week of running. (every 3rd week is only 4 days) It averages out to about 20 miles a week (less at the beginning, more at the end). This morning's run completed week 9.

So I started this program at the beginning of December. And so far, I have missed exactly ONE run! ONE!!! And that was this past Wednesday, Groundhog's Day, and it was just a little 3 mile jog. And being a '3rd week', that meant only 3 runs this week, and I still was between 19 and 20 miles.

Not all of my runs have been enjoyable or easy. A handful of times the temperatures are single digits, and a few times, the wind chill is sub-zero. But again, I think this is working to my advantage.

Normally, for me, any run of 5 or fewer miles, in temperatures of 30 or more degrees, and I'm wearing shorts. I shun tights... sorry, I just don't think it's flattering for a guy to wear tights. I have a couple pairs of sweat pants I rotate. Additionally, while I have some nice long sleeve tops, I don't really have running gear for temps this cold. So I'm throwing on big bulky sweatshirts to run.

Fashion aside, I think this is just what I need. Since I'll be running the Disney Princess Half in a Prince costume, running in heavy pants and top is as close as I can get to that costume while training. I thought about actually wearing the costume once for a run... but not only am I pretty sure the police would stop me (and do a mental wellness check), but I don't want to ruin the costume or 'sweat it up' ahead of time.

Anyway, I missed my 3 miler on Wednesday because I had to shovel snow instead. We got maybe a foot overnight, and then another foot during the day. So I shoveled in the morning and in the evening. All in all, it wasn't a 'bad' storm for our area. We're used to snow. And when we have that kind of prep time knowing it's coming, it's no big deal. They closed the schools for the day the night before... and honestly, they probably could've had them open. But not having the buses on the roads just made it easier to get everything cleared.

Thursday and Friday were both rest days (again - 3rd week is a shortened week).

The schedule called for a 15k race today (Saturday). Since even in good weather there aren't many of those around, I just planned on 'a little more than 9 miles with effort'. And I've been trying to really use my lungs as my guide for 'effort', ignoring my legs as much as possible. Tough to ignore them completely as it only take about a mile before my right Achilles feels like... feels like...

Well, have you ever had someone give you a really, really good wedgie? (If so, you must've had older siblings like me... if not, you suck). Not quite 'atomic' where something rips and there might be blood... but when you THOUGHT something ripped, but it was really just the elastic waistband going all 'un-elastic'? That's what my Achilles feels like. Like an un-elastic waistband.

I planned on a 5 mile-ish loop to the park, followed by a residential 4 mile-ish loop. At the park, the local "Team in Training" was running. This, was awesome... and again, good prep for the Disney Princess Half. Why? Because I'm fairly certain the local Team in Training is about 95% female.

Look, I'm happily married and eternally faithful to my wife. But if I have to see a lot of asses, I'd prefer they be female. This might make me a pig, this might just make me human. Whatever, it was me running with a large bunch of women... I felt like a whore on dollar night.

The hard part was, it's very hard for me to find my pace in that scenario. Not because of the scenery, but because I have a hard time with 'slow passes'. I feel like if I take too long to go past someone, especially a woman, that it's creepy. I don't want anyone (man or woman) to feel creeped out. So, once I get close, I try to pick up the pace for the pass.

This meant I went a little faster than I should have for the first half of my run, and I paid for it on the second half. Combined with the extra effort running through the parts of neighborhoods that people haven't shoveled, and my legs are a bit toasted.

But... tomorrow's another rest day. In 2 weeks I'll be in Florida, and in 3 weeks I'll be a Running Prince(ss). It's nice having that to look forward to.

And by the way - while I am out of town, I have a wonderful good friend staying at the house. He is an ex-football lineman, ex-bodyguard, and ex-convict. He is staying here with his pit bull and rottweiler, and his 3 guns. I am leaving him enough meth that he will not sleep the entire time. And I'm turning off the heat to put him in a foul mood, because I want him feeling extra stabby in case of intruder. You've been warned.

(words in this post not recognized by Blogger spell check: Stabby, meth, creeped, must've, could've, figmentary. I didn't know I was so creative in my vocabulary)