8 miles / 8 months

Baby W is 8 months old today! To celebrate, her crazy mama decided to run 8 miles. But that wasn't the crazy part. The real obstacle wasn't the distance; it was the cold. Today was definitely the coldest day I've seen in a while. Temps fell to the teens and flirted with single digits. And the wind chill kicked it up a notch with face numbing seriousness (my iphone reported "feels like 2" - oh joy). Yes, I could've postponed my run til tomorrow, but we have a big holiday party to attend, and I wanted to give Chicago winter running a try. I know that in a very short time, today's weather will be the norm. So I better get used to it. Or at least know to plan for treadmill runs until April.

This morning, after a bit of coffee and deliberation re: this run (verdict: go for it!), I suited up: three layers of tops, jacket, the north face tights, a headband, hat, my new brooks adapt running gloves, and sunnies (luckily the sun was out - not that it made much difference). I'm not sure what else I could've added, but I better think of something because I was still cold. The first bit was shocking to my system. Pretty much everything felt cold, so I just ran steady and tried to zone to the ipod. Running with the wind was slightly tolerable; running with a headwind was downright frigid. I did some out and backs to stay close to home, but most of the time I tried to convince myself that this run had to be easier than labor was eight months ago..though the jury is still out on that one. After eight miles, I was ready to stuff myself into an oven; instead I cuddled with Baby (who was waiting for me at home with her daddy) and tried to defrost. Eight miles to the good!

The rest of this week was alright -
Monday - 3.5 with Baby in the Bob.
Wednesday - 4.5 with Baby (was shooting for 5 but Baby decided 4.5 was plenty and communicated that opinion quite clearly)
Thursday - yoga. This was great, though I was noticeably sore the next day (and the next).

Going forward, I'm just going to proceed with caution re: this cold weather. I haven't committed to training for anything, but I am tossing some ideas around. I know the new year is right on the horizon, and I want to keep that balance of running for fun and pushing myself. Sometimes it takes a race registration form to keep things from going stale. But even after 8 months of being a mom, I am still hesitant to sign up for anything major (ie 26 or so miles).

To end on a totally unrelated note, I'm not the only person in my household who can wear her hair in a pony tail!

8 months old / pony tail