day 350, 14 days to go

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.... it has been 11 days since my last confession... I mean, blog. Oh, yeah, I'm not Catholic. But I feel guilty nonetheless. When I set out to do this challenge for the year, I intended on blogging on a daily, if not more regular, basis. And, well... I have really fallen off on that aspect. I allotted myself time to run each day, but I never quite got it down to either blog directly after or first thing in the morning or something that would have helped me blog daily. And, so I feel guilty. Like I have let you down, my six faithful readers (assuming you are even there anymore...I know one is...). As I round the corner on this final two weeks of the year, I do wish I had been more disciplined in the writing about my progress. It's very like me to somewhat half-ass my way through. At least I have run everyday! And I did do four races this year also. I don't think I maintained one long run each week, but pretty close.

For the last eleven days, my running has been pretty decent. I ran in CT with my friends brother and he is 6'3" so he has a fast pace that I was able to keep without much problem. We did 5.5 miles the first day and then, in torrential rain, we ran 4.5 miles. I really didn't think Connecticut would be hilly, but it was! There were some really tough long ones, as a matter of fact. Then I got in one more run in Central Park. It was only three miles long since my boys were chomping at the bit to get their "tourist" on. But Central Park is still a great place to run. On the return from our trip, Asheville was a balmy 18 degrees, felt like 2. It was bitter and painful. But Jacob got me some new gear... a new "Ninja Suit". So that was nice. It was so cold that I felt like I was hyperventilating while running. I had on lots of layers, but it was still cold. Mother Nature is not going to let me off easy here at the end of the year! Then Jacob and I did a little shy of 5 miles yesterday when it was a little warmer... 24 degrees. Oddly enough those 5-6 degrees did make a difference. The problem was that the sidewalks are all covered in ice. I remember complaining about that at the beginning of this year. Apparently shoveling your sidewalk is optional in Asheville. Today, though, I must say did feel downright warm! It was 44 degrees when I went out running. The rain and warmer weather melted most of the ice off the sidewalks and it was fortunately not raining. I could really benefit from seeing the sun, however. But, I have zero control over that, so I might as well make the most of it... somehow. And in two weeks, if it's 20 degrees outside, I can make the choice not to run outside or not to run at all. I might look into some Bikram yoga, or a spin class or something else for the duration of the winter. I doubt I will give up running outside entirely...but you never can tell!