10...9...

It's taper time!  With less than two weeks until the Disney 1/2 marathon, I've been decreasing my miles to prepare.   The weekend before Christmas I met up with my Goofy ladies.    It was their 1/2 marathon mileage day (as opposed to their full marathon mileage they did the next day) so I hung with them for most of the miles.  I had 10 miles so I headed out on the trail a little early to get in a few miles before they arrived.  The wind chill was in the teens and it had snowed earlier in the week but the path had been plowed so it was perfect.  January races are my favorite to train for because it's cold but we don't typically get the gross slushy weather until January/February.  It was perfect for me.  I'm not sure that many would agree....but that's what makes me special. ;)

 Know what happens when the temperatures drop?  I run faster.  One theory is that I'm cold and the faster I go, the warmer I'll be.  Or the faster I'll finish and can go back inside.  I'm convinced that I'm faster in the winter because summer training sucks the energy out of me.  And then there is the asthma that is irritated by humidity.  The air in the winter is dry!  And makes me rocket powered....you know, because 13:00 minute average pace is rocket powered in my book.

 I probably wouldn't have been faster at mile 6 but that might have been when we spotted a bald eagle (for real) and we stopped to check it out.  That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

This past weekend was even colder.  And we got buckets of snow dumped on us right after Christmas.  It was great!  I love snow.  However, the paths weren't as clear when it came time to train.  Lisa's neighborhood employs little elves who plow and salt at even the slightest flurry so unlike me and Mary's ice packed streets, Lisa's were dry and clear!  So it was going to be 9 miles worth of loops.  We ran around the block, down each cul-de-sac and anywhere we could to get the miles in without repeating the same roads too often.  Lisa was probably bored to tears but Mary and I weren't as familiar so we didn't notice any repetition.

So I mentioned it was even colder.  There was also a crazy wind we were fighting (up hill no less) but I ended up having something on my side.  And it's pretty selfish.  Mary was battling a cold but being the trooper she is, she was there checking off the miles with us.  The cold did slow her down some and that meant I spend the entire 9 miles with them.  When I needed a quick walk break, they took one also.  Of course I felt bad that she was sick but it was nice to have company for the entire workout.  I'm awful.

And that colder weather brought out my rocket power....it was my second to last long run before Disney and it was my FASTEST of the season.  Holy smokes I didn't see that coming!  That's right at 1/2 marathon PR pace.  Say what?  I'm still not aiming for a PR but we will see what happens...10 days until the race