Friday night the forecast, according to Jerry Taft, for Saturday morning was "bitter cold". The reality was probably worse. When I heard the weather forecast, my response was, "Can't we get a break?". It seems like every Saturday for the last two months has had miserable weather for running.
I've documented some of those days here. We've already had bitter cold a number of times. And we've had sloppy snow. And we've had icy roads. And driving rain. You name it, and we've dealt with it. It would be better if the worst weather day of the week fell on some other day than the day we run long. But you play the hand you're dealt I guess.
We bundled up in several layers. We covered our faces like Eskimos, and we ventured out. The thermometer in the car read zero degrees. The radio said the wind chill was much below that. But for some reason, as we got going, we all seemed to feel good! We might be able to get through this after all!
There were four of us who planned to go between ten and fourteen miles in Barrington. None of us committed to a distance until we got to the five mile point. Once we got there intact, two decided to make the loop for a little over 12 miles, and they convinced me to add an extra hill to get close to 14 miles. I'm the only one training for a spring marathon, so I've gotta add distance at some point I guess.
Anyway, enough with the complaining. We all got through it, and it ended up being a really rewarding day. As I was making the turn away from my friends to venture off alone for the extra mileage, I realized that was really a decision to push my training for the Boston Marathon in April. I could have justified going shorter, but by running longer, I put my mindset more in the 'serious training' mode. And it felt good.
I believe overcoming adversity is a big part of the mental aspect of marathon running and training. Everyone has those perfect days when you feel great and believe you can glide along forever. It's those other days that seem to come more frequently. Those are the days when we don't feel great. We didn't sleep much, or little injuries are nagging at us. Or the weather presents challenges. We've all had those days too. And when you get through those days, you have a feeling of accomplishment.
So I'm feeling good today. But it better warm up by next weekend!
Meantime, it's time to start thinking about the spring and summer running season. I got a couple emails from the Bank of America folks this week. The Shamrock Shuffle registration is filling up fast. They're capping it at 35,000, and they are approaching that number quickly. So if you want to run the traditional start of the season race in March, you should sign up now. It's alway a great time.
The Bank of America Chicago Marathon will also open registration in a week. They are making a couple more changes this year, including starting a little earlier. That should help 
open up the streets a little sooner, and take advantage of the cooler weather earlier in the day. Here's part of the release:
Online registration for the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon will open to the public beginning at midnight (CST) on February 1 at chicagomarathon.com. The 32-year-old 26.2-mile race will be held on Sunday, October 11, beginning and ending in Chicago’s historic Grant Park. Registration is open to the first 45,000 registered participants.
Yup, summer is coming. At least that's what I keep telling myself! See you on the roads....
Good for you for getting out there week after week. When me and the girls were training for the '96 Olympic trials we had to deal with this as well. It made us tough. I remember one saturday with the wind chill at -30 our coach took us to Herrick road and we ran our mile repeats with the wind at our back and he would drive us back to the start where we would start again for 8 repeat miles. It was the only way to get it done that day. That short ride back to the start was just enough to keep us from suffering frostbite during this really long workout. I will never forget that day and the satisfaction of getting our work done regardless of the weather with a little creative thinking on our coach's part.
The weather should break soon!
RunnerGirl Janeth
Posted by: Janeth Ohst | January 25, 2009 at 03:29 PM
John, way to get out there and battle the bitter cold (and that final hill). Personally, I've been spending way too much time on the treadmill. I am 110% with you...CANNOT WAIT FOR SPRING! It's so much easier to log the miles when it's half-way decent outside.
Keep up the great work! Liz
PS Kate and I launched a blog on Januray 1 (www.fit-ink.com). It's a work in progress, but I thought you might get a kick out of it. :)
Posted by: Liz | January 26, 2009 at 03:58 PM
How many more weeks of winter did puxipony phil say?
Posted by: Daeson | February 26, 2009 at 12:04 AM