The Lesser of Two Evils...

I am not a fan of slippery roads. I am not a fan of the indoor track. This morning I had to choose between the two and I chose the track. In a typical year, I end up running the track two or three times, so I actually feel a little lucky that today was my first time in about a year. I discovered that the Garmin can't hold a signal while in the Y - I ran for an hour and it only clocked three miles - now I'm slow, but certainly not that slow! This is the same indoor track you've all read about over at Rob's blog - sixish laps to a mile. Rob uses a clicker thingy to count laps and listens to his ipod. I chose to run by time (I don't own a clicker thingy) and just zone out with my thoughts. I actually reached that mindless state where I was just running - no thoughts, no worries, just running. I did notice that the Garmin consistently lost the signal as I rounded the bend on the south end of the track, I'm not sure where it picked it up again. I also noticed that some runners slap their feet. I've noticed it in races before too, but today there was one guy and one woman who were really loud. I wanted to talk to them about running lightly - about Rob's idea that good form means you should be able to run up behind someone without them knowing. However, another thing I noticed this morning is that the indoor track is not a friendly "Hi, How ya doing?" kind of place. Most people had their music going, everyone looks intent. The only ones chatting were the walkers who came in together. So, yeah, I did it, I ran my hour on the track and I'm already hoping that was it for the year. I started thinking I should skip tomorrow - take an extra rest day before the big trail adventure this weekend. I've got all day to talk myself into another track run tomorrow. We'll see if I can do it. Hmmmm.... I have a Y Board meeting at 7:30, so I'd need to go early, get my run in, and because I don't like showering at the Y if I can help it, drive home, shower and eat and get back there. Or I could go to the meeting all gnarly and sweaty. That'd be cool. I'll decide later, that's what I'll do!

I did run yesterday - in fresh snow layered right over the icy mess from last week. It felt kind of warm at 30 degrees, and it was still snowing when I went out. Don't be thinking of gently falling fat flakes though, instead be thinking of little ice pellets. The kind that you can still see when you look at the ground. The kind that build up on your hat and coat and gloves while you run. That's what kind of snow it was. I ran for seven miles. I went out thinking, okay, at least three. Then I thought oh, one more. Okay, why stop at four - at least get five. Then the lure of that unopened new road through the woods called me, and a lap of the college and a lap of the lake (which is frozen over and covered with snow - very unusual!). It was a really fun run. Later in the day, the snow turned to rain - just enough to make a slushy mess of everything and then refreeze over night, which is what led to the indoor run today. Today is supposed to be a repeat. The forecast for Saturday is cloudy, a low of 30 and a high of 43. Maybe some rain. I think my first Fat Ass could be real interesting!