First snow of 2006
Quite ironic that just a couple of days after a Virginia Beach high of 71 degrees (in January!) that I should wake up this morning to snow on the ground. The overnight low was in the 20’s, leaving the roads clear, but lawns and cars covered with an icy white blanket.
It’s also ironic that today was scheduled to be my longest training run of the year. My marathon plan called for an easy 16 miles, but I wanted to try for 18 if I could. When the alarm went off at 6:00am, I could hear the wind whipping around the house. I looked outside, saw the snow and jumped back into bed to contemplate my options.
- go back to sleep for a couple of hours, run long on the treadmill later
- get up, have breakfast, drive to Final Kick Sports and run the trails at First Landing Park
- get up, have breakfast and run long from the house
I quickly dismissed the treadmill option and decided it might be best to just run from the house and save the drive to the trails for a nicer day. After a quick breakfast of oatmeal, juice and coffee, a check of the weather (28 degrees and wind gusts of 35mph!) and 5 minutes of stretching, I set off. Initially it didn’t feel too cold, but as I rounded the corner onto Princess Anne Road, the wind hit me and nearly blew me off my feet. Not the best start to a long run, but I dug in, working harder than normal for the first mile and settled into a rhythm. The first 6 miles felt good with the wind mainly behind me. I was aware that it would of course be against me on the way home and tried to save as much energy for the return. I was tempted to turn around at 8 miles and be happy with a total of 16, but something made me go the extra mile and I ended up turning in about 69 minutes.
As soon as I made the turn I felt the wind and realized that it was going to be a long 9 miles home. At 10 I stopped at a 7-Eleven to buy some water, use the restroom and take my first energy gel. At the Shamrock Marathon this year they’re going to be handing out Carb-BOOM Energy GEL
After the brief stop I tried to pick up the pace and actually felt better for the water and the 60 second break. The wind came and went and as long as I ran at a steady effort I was ok. At around 12 or 13 miles I was hoping for a slight boost in energy (maybe the GEL would kick in?) and felt heartened that there was only 5 miles left. However, the last 5 miles were mainly along Dam Neck Road - a long straight road that seems to go on forever, especially when the wind is right in your face. With 35mph gusts there were times when I almost came to a stop, but I persevered, took in another GEL and made the final couple of turns for home. I tried to finish strong and was pleasantly surprised to see my last mile was run in 6:54 with an overall time of 2:17:00 for 18.1 miles.
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