There's a warm up coming!

Seriously. It's supposed to break freezing temps this week! For now, it's still damn cold. The above picture is from the Dirt Dawg 8 mile trail run on Saturday morning. It was take AFTER the race. I have a cup of agua in my hands. I think you can see my breath. Or steam floating off my body. It was all of 14 degrees. And we had about five inches of snow to run (read:slip and slide) on those hills. It was fun though.

I won again! We started out at a faster pace than the last race...or so it seemed. I caught Missy (pictured above - left. that's me on the right) in the first mile and stayed with her as we approached another female runner (FR). Missy made a move and passed her. FR made no move in response. So, I followed suit and passed her as well. Then, she got a fire up her ass and passed us both back up.

I laughed. Out. Loud. And took off after her as Missy yelled "Have fun!" I quickly passed her and did the mental fake out of keeping up the pace until she could no longer see me. I didn't see FR the rest of the race, partially out of fear she'd get another flame lit and run me down.

Honestly, that race hurt. I haven't hurt like that in a race in a while. I just wanted it to be done! I think I was pleading with God to provide some sort of traction around mile 5. With every foot strike, there was a slight slip. I was wishing I had yak trax or screws in my shoes or something, anything, to give me some footing. The hills were the kind that couldn't be run down or you'd end up on your ass. They were the kind where you took a little hop and skid down on the soles of your shoes, holding onto trees and not resisting the pull of gravity.

I was so so glad I brought dry warm clothes to change into after the race! And then I went home and made a vat of chilli, half of which is in the freezer now. I'll be eating chilli the next 5 days even so. Quick nap and into the gym for some upper body weights and core work. Lots of core work. The kind of core work that made my abs hurt for Pilates class yesterday.

I skipped the Splash 'n' Dash because it just seemed like a horribly stupid idea. And coach agreed. Plus, it would've amounted to driving to Dayton two days in a row and therefore, accomplishing very little at home. So, I bagged it and rode the trainer, took Pilates, ran errands, swam, cleaned my apartment, and unsuccessfully walked the dog. It wasn't a success because she keeps refusing to go potty outside. Instead, she uses my bathroom floor. How is it that she's smart enough to know that the bathroom is where you do your duty, but not quite bright enough to realize that there is grass underneath the snow! She keeps walking and walking searching for grass....and never finds any.

So, yeah, I'm looking forward to this little warm up we're supposed to have this week. Maybe that grass will start to show again?