Ha, Ha...got your attention, didn't I? I had a long run planned for Saturday morning. When I woke up and checked the weather app, I was dismayed to find the current conditions to be -8 degrees with -13 windchill. Yuck! It was the last weekend in February and STILL sub zero. I took Charlie out to do his business before meeting up with a friend to run. It was then that I noticed that the battery indicator on my Garmin was at 5%. Strike 2 for the Saturday run. Since my friend often leaves the time/distance keeping to me, I ran back inside and grabbed my phone and stuck it in my pocket so I'd at least know what time we finished and could kind of guess back on the pace. I took note of the time when we started running knowing that at some point during the run, my watch would inevitably give up the ghost.
My watch lasted almost one mile before the screen went black. Not to worry because I knew what time we'd left the neighborhood. The run really was enjoyable and low stress with no mile beeps. Since we'd had some snow on Friday, the corners were a little like mountain climbing, but no worries. Maybe more like molehills than mountains. The cold wasn't too bothersome either. After what we estimated to be around 11 miles, we headed home satisfied that we'd run a quality training run. I grabbed my phone to check on our time and guess what? Of course my phone had also died due to the cold. I should have paid more attention to Stephanie's post about her phone not liking the cold. Runners often refer to running completely without electronics to "running naked." I had unintentionally gone out for a long run in sub zero weather naked...and it was still good! Fortunately, I pay better attention to my watch battery before races so I don't end up guessing how my race is going. I'll also be "watching" it closer prior to my long runs or any speed workouts that require paces my watch can help me. The weather is improving and the days getting longer, so the cold will also become less of a factor on the electronics. I hope you are enjoying some sunshine this week! Happy running--Missee
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This was the view of my backyard with 8 inches of new snow that fell from last night until this morning. What a sight! Minnesota is beautiful! Snow in February or March is the best since it won't stay around for long and it melts off the road pretty quickly. We are supposed to get another big storm tomorrow. Hopefully I remain as positive about the snow after an additional four to six inches potentially fall. Today's snow caused a two hour late start for our school district. This meant that my kids could fit in some piano practice and I was able to fit in a seven mile treadmill run followed by a couple loads of laundry. (Seven miles was my long run for this week's training schedule.) I also got to see a little more Olympic coverage this morning. Did you happen to see Minnesota's Jessie Diggins win a gold medal in cross-country ladies team sprint on Wednesday night? That finish was amazing! If you missed it, a link to an article on MPR News is here. When the Olympics are over, what am I going to do with my time?
Happy Running! -Stephanie Back in my college days, there was a movie called Groundhog's Day starring Bill Murray. The main character in the film gets stuck reliving the same day over and over until he gets it right. The movie is a comedy and each time the character hears the morning alarm, it plays "I Got You Babe" from Sonny and Cher signaling the viewer that it's a new day, but really the same day over again from yesterday. Sometimes familiarity is comforting, sometimes it's annoying. I recently had an experience, not in successive days, that made me think of reliving the same event over and over. We HATE car buying at my house. Our general practice is to buy a vehicle and drive it until we need the tow truck to haul it away. Our current fleet includes a van that we bought in 2008 and has over 200K on it...we use our cars up before moving on. Remember the Jet that we just had hauled away...it was as older than two of our children. In the summer of 2015 it was time for my husband and I to embark on one of our car shopping expeditions. We set out to buy a gently used car for me with the intent to send the van to college with our daughter. After a full day of shopping and one Snickers bar to ward off any hints of hanger (hunger + anger), we settled on a new 2015 Fusion in red. I'd never had a new car before so picking the color was a treat. Here I am on the day we brought it home: Move forward to February 2018 and I got the call Mom's dread, that one of the kids has had an accident. Our youngest son called home and said, "I'm alright, but I think Mom's car is totaled." The main thing was really that he was not injured as cars and material things can be replaced. When you see the car, it's quite amazing that no one was hurt. I was impressed in how the inside of the car held up to protect the occupant. I definitely wanted to stick with that model of car if possible. Move ahead one week after that photo. We went out shopping to replace the car since the insurance company had deemed it a total loss. The same car lot where we purchased the Fusion happened to have another 2015 Fusion in red on the lot with the same interior and features as our original. Two differences were the odometer had 25K less miles on it and this one had remote start added by the original owner. Cue Sonny and Cher...this felt like Groundhog's Day. A few hours later, we left with our second car of the exact same type. I've spent a few days wrestling with the question of whether it is brilliant to buy an exact replica of something we knew we really liked or if that was stupid not to pick out something else keeping in mind that this car will be with me until the tow truck hauls it off...hopefully when it is completely used up around 250K miles! Some days running can feel like that old Bill Murray movie where life repeats itself every day. On the good days, I can easily get lulled into my run and wonder how I got all the way to mile 3 or past the bank on the corner. Running familiar routes has a way of making me wonder which day was windy or if today felt easier than when I ran this route last week. Chatting with a friend on the road makes the miles fly by, too. Perhaps running the same route is similar to Groundhog's Day in that we keep running the same way until we get it right...whatever that means. Maybe it's running it harder, easier, faster, slower, twice around the loop, with higher knees, stronger arms or any number of endless ways we might improve. Who's to say what running "right" might be. Unless running is your profession, it's something that is totally yours and if you are getting something out it mentally or physically, it's right enough for today. Happy running! Missee
It's a long weekend off of school for us. Since I didn't have to work on Friday, I decided to do my long run for the week. I ended up with 10 miles at an average of 9:22 pace. I'm happy with that. I ran the first five miles alone (and without music since my iPhone froze again at mile one). The second five miles were run with my running partner. I look forward to meeting up with her. It's a lot more fun to run with a friend. On Friday evening, we traveled up to "The Farm" (where my parents live) for a little getaway. On Saturday, I drove into town to go running. There was definitely more snow in my parent's town and more ice on the roads. This was a good opportunity for me to develop a new running workout. I'm calling it, "Minnesota Intervals." Here is how to run "Minnesota Intervals." 1. Go SLOWLY over ice. It's not worth a fall, so be careful. 2. Pick up the pace, and RUN at a 5K pace on dry pavement. 3. Repeat as needed. Here I am in front of the local depot station. This was my start and finish line for my run since there is a public parking lot across the street. I came upon this truck and it made me think of Missee... No need to worry Missee. This truck with hay bales was parked (but it was running). Also, these small bales looked well stacked and secured.
Happy Running! -Stephanie Over the holidays, I got some new winter weather gear. I recently reviewed an Asics jacket that is super warm. I also got some tights, the Asics Liteshow Thermal Tight. I've got two pair of these tights, one has white stitching and one has pink. The stitching is reflective which was one of the big selling points for me besides the thermal qualities. Interestingly, the white pair does not have a drawstring but the pink ones do. Perhaps one of them was last year's model. I like a good drawstring to keep my drawers from creeping at all leaving either my belly or back open to some cold air during a run. I am a little tall in the body, so I like my tights to be up higher on my waist and first layer of top tucked in. We've shared on the blog before that Stephanie and I can both sew, thanks to our Mom, so I may just add a drawstring to my tights.
I am still glued to the Olympics whenever I can find a few minutes (or hours). I love the heart the athletes show and hearing their stories. It seems that quite a few of the winter sports take almost as much guts as natural talent. They all require a lot of work, too. If bobsled sounds too tame, there is luge. Then try doubles luge...two guys on a little sled. Not adventurous enough, try skeleton! Why would anyone want to slide headfirst down an icy track? For a medal, of course! I love the medal ceremonies and the national anthems. After The Star Spangled Banner, O Canada is my next favorite since the Canadians are our nearest neighbors to Minnesota. Tomorrow we are headed out on a twelve mile run. That will be a good challenge after putting in a couple of speed workouts this week. My hope is that we are nearly done with sub zero temps and windchills for this winter. Warmer weather makes planning runs so much easier. Happy running--Missee Happy Valentines Day to all our readers. If you partake in the chocolates and conversation hearts, I hope you had time to run some of them off. I found a great running sentiment for today: If your household isn't that romantic, how about this one? I work in a farming community. Here is one student's Valentine box. Enjoy Valentines Day in whatever way you choose. As long as it works for you, no rules. Happy running! Missee
Happy Valentine's Day to you! I hope your day is filled with smiles, chocolate, and maybe even a run. May your day be filled with people and things that you enjoy. When it comes to running, here are some of my current loves: 1. Running with a friend or a sister. 2. Brooks Glycerin Shoes- They are expensive for running shoes, but you really can't beat the cushion. I'm in need of a new pair and I have been eyeing this pair of Glycerin 15s. (I will most likely try to find Glycerin 14s to save on cost.) 3. Orthotics- I have been running on custom orthotics for the past 9 months and my feet have never felt better. 4. Running in the daylight. 5. Old Navy Active Wear. I found these these tights and tank that would be perfect for cross training or spring running. I love the high rise tights at Old Navy. I have several pair of black pairs, but I think I would like to try a colorful pattern. 6. Roads clear of ice. 7. Long runs. 8. People who hold up motivational signs during marathons. Runners really appreciate you! 9. Calm Days.. no wind. 10. The feeling after a run. *What do you love about running/walking/elliptical? Please feel free to share in the comment section below. Happy Running! -Stephanie
I've had a super busy weekend beginning with tucking my long run in on Friday afternoon. That was followed up with two track meets and a car accident for one of my sons. That's now two cars we've had towed in about a month. No one was injured, just inconvenienced which can be dealt with.
Before heading back back to work tomorrow, I'm resting on the sofa watching Olympic figure skating. If you didn't catch the men's 30K skiathlon today, all I can say is WOW. We saw a major crash at the start. It was quite the pileup and one guy even broke a pole. However, 30K is a long race and the broken pole guy worked his way up to the front around 23K and won gold by 22 seconds. That has to be one of the biggest comebacks ever. Runners could learn from that style of patient persistence. I heard a professional runner comment that there aren't any prizes for leading at the first mile marker. Smart thought and true. Here are the mittens I've been wearing since the Olympics began. Go USA! It's too bad the Olympics can't last til spring. Happy running! Missee Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! My Saturday began with a 6:30 am long run. My Hal Higdon Novice 1 Marathon Training Program called for a nine mile run. It was -5° actual temp, I didn't have the heart to look at the "feels like" temp. It was definitely a freeze your buns kind of run! I met my running friend for the first 5 miles. When I dropped her off at her house, I reached for my iPhone. My plan was to take some pictures for the blog and to listen to my current audio book. It was a technology fail. My phone was frozen and would not turn on. That left me four miles of quiet, cold miles to finish on my own. I had too much time to think. :) Here are a few of the questions that I had plenty of time to think about...
I ended up finishing my nine miles with a 9:41 minute per mile average. Although that was not the pace that I was hoping for, I own it and I finished my run today. The rest of my weekend will be spent watching the Winter Olympics. Watching the Olympics is one of my favorite things to do. I am so inspired by these athletes! Does anyone else share my Olympic fever? THANK YOU to the readers who completed my exercise survey posted a few days ago. Our readers are ROCKSTARS! The five readers who responded exercised a solid 6 days per week. That is something to be very proud of. Keep up the great work!
Happy Weekend! -Stephanie My husband, Mom, Dad and I, along with David's girlfriend spent all day yesterday at David's Nordic ski meet. It was so cold that the start of the race was delayed an hour in hopes of getting a temperature closer to zero. I'm not sure what the actual temperature was during the day, but the coldest we registered on the car thermometer on the way there was -24F. Yikes, that's cold! When I returned to work today, people asked if we were cold at the meet. Yes and no. David and his team raced extremely well. When things are going well, the cold doesn't matter nearly so much. In the event things were going poorly for the skiers, we'd have been quite miserable. The team was Section champions and will race next week at the State meet in Biwabik, MN. Hopefully, the weather will be calm and warmer than yesterday. It was David's birthday yesterday, too. What a great birthday...playing hooky from school for a race and qualifying for the State meet. I think this is how all of us fans felt on the way home! After so much cold weather fun yesterday, I was delighted to wake up to a temperature of zero with no wind. That sounded downright balmy! Wrong!!! In the spirit of a true Minnesotan, I dressed a little lighter than I had been the past few days since it was now warmer. A smarter thought may have been to wear the SAME amount of clothing I had been and now be toasty instead of chilly.
This morning's run consisted to a warmup mile and six bursts of one minute at a speedy pace followed by one minute of a resting pace. Then we ran about another four miles at a steady rate. It was a nice run, but I must remind myself that zero is not quite summer :-) Do you have a temperature limit for outdoor activities? If it's too cold, do you cross train or rest? I saw that Stephanie enjoys her treadmill walks. I have Charlie to walk with me, so we go outdoors whenever possible. Here we are on a recent running day...Happy running--Missee |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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