Running In The Cold

by Bill
(Lititz, PA)

Picture from lenjoy.blogspot.com

Where in the world is Bill Caloviras???

Ok, so I have to apologize, I haven't updated in two weeks, life comes at you fast, and you have to be agile enough to dodge life's little challenges. And running in the cold isn't fun!

Training is going great, I have switched to running 3 miles every other day during the week and still walking mostly to give my body a rest in between the runs.

On Sundays I had been doing 5 miles a few weeks back, but then got very sick and lost a week of running. I came back strong and ran another 5 miler that weekend.

Strep Throat And Snowpocalypse

Then sickness ruled my house, after I got over a wicked head cold, I gave myself 4 days to rest up before running in the cold again, just to be sure.

Then my wife gets sick and it turns out to be Strep throat. Now I am working full time and taking care of meals and the kids to give her a much needed rest. I did get my runs in regardless.
But now my kids are dropping off like flies with strep throat as well.

So far I am healthy and back on track, then the east gets nailed with "Snowpocalypse"(spoken in a deep voice with an echo) yes, we actually got hit with less snow than areas south of us, but 22 inches is not bad.

So I stared at the dreadmill and then back out to the snow. It was a very tough decision, run in place for 5 miles or don't run at all.

The Ups And Down's

Let me back up. I ran 5 the previous weekend. That was a huge accomplishment from not running at all two months ago. I felt great, then Monday, not so great. I felt like an old man, I even walked funny. I took Monday off and ran Tuesday, again I felt great. But then on Thursday I tried to run 3 miles and felt like I was going to die.

I cannot explain how frustrated I was, my legs hurt, I could barely walk, I was scared, then I got to thinking, running sucks! Especially running in the cold. Well the snow storm was coming, I rested Friday and figured that I will walk 3 miles in the snow and that will be perfect for marathon training.

I never did get that walk in, I spent the morning taking it easy with my family and the afternoon was dedicated to snow removal. So Sunday rolls around and the skies clear, cold but clear.

Running Partner

I was asked by one of my neighbors if he could "tag" along. I never ran with a partner, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I found out that my friend Graham, was a world record holder for the mile for his age (16), he ran a 4 minute 10 second mile back then.

Well he is now in his 40's and hasn't run for over 6 months. It was fun and the time went by so quickly. We only did a 5K, but could have easily done 5 miles. Graham was a sprinter, so he admitted to having a hard time pacing himself. I found us doing 9 minute miles, when I normally run around a 11-12 minute mile.

Anyway, It was great to have a friend along, and he asked when we could go running in the cold again. Fine by me!!!