Leaving California

I left sunny California Tuesday night. And ended up in Rochester, NY. It was crazy to have such a drastic climate change.

I left this:

Playing at the dog park with Dante

And came back to a very cold icy terrain. I would insert a cold picture here, but I haven't even been able to muster up the energy to leave the warm indoors.

Back in California, I had all these grand running plans, but now that I'm actually back it's hard to get out in the cold and start the run. 

I totally would have slacked yesterday and not gone on a run, except I made plans with this girl. 

Jaime and me. Her husband and my bf was there too, but one was taking the picture and the other was shining the head lamp on our face so that there was enough light for a quick cell phone picture. 

It was so much fun. I am usually not a big group runner, but talking made the cold more bearable and the time go by faster. Before I knew it, we had gone for 3.25 miles at a comfortable 9:52/mile pace. They were even nice enough to go slow and for shorter in order to accommodate my bf who had recently been sick. 

We were unsurprisingly the only crazies out in the dark canal at 6:30PM. And the only ones in running clothes at a nice crepe place that we visited afterwards. I thought I should take a picture for the blog, but the nutella crepe was so good and getting to know Jamie and Mike so fun that the crepes were gone before I could take a photo. 

Unfortunately, I haven't been out running today. It's harder to go when I only have to answer to myself. But hopefully, I'll get some good spinning and a boot camp class in. 

I'm definitely going to convince Jaime and Mike to move to Ithaca for the winter. So that I'm forced to run outside. 

What do you guys do in the cold? Do you run outside? What's your winter must have? Or how do you motivate yourself? Here's to a safe winter running! And to everyone who reads my blog, let's meet up sometime! 

Race this weekend

Something shocking happened yesterday at lunch. I was innocently enjoying my five dollar foot long talking about my planned long run of 12 miles for the weekend when two boys challenged me to a race.

They thought they would be able to beat me in a nine miler against me by running it as a relay. Three miles per each boy, nine miles for me. I agreed. They probably could beat me. I mean I've never been a speed demon. I just chug along at an averageish pace and place in the middleish of the pack in age group and overall.

But somehow, I got dragged into agreeing to do my long run as a race. Their biggest seller was that if I lose, no big deal, but if I won, I could lord it over them for the rest of senior year. And thanks to facebook, it's now officially an event on Saturday at noon. There will be spectators and picnic food. And if fb events were good indicators, there will be at least 15 people in attendance.

So here are the athletes!

Challenger #1 Master Debater

He'll be running the first leg. He claims to not have run in a month. But I know that when he did run, he ran the mile sprint a little faster than I did two months ago. He's a policy debater so you know he can out talk anyone. He's also a gifted speed reader. So, if he can run as fast as he can talk, I'm screwed. 

Challenger #2 Adventure Racer

He's running the second leg. He competes in those mud race type events. You know, the kind where you have to run with heavy stuff or climb a wall or all sorts of craziness. Not a regular runner, but he strength trains regularly. I'm guessing just a road race of 3 miles will seem like cake after the races he's done. Look at those long legs. Then look at mine. Clearly running gods favored him more than me. 

Challenger #3 Farm boy

As you can see his childhood of being raised on a farm has resulted in super human strength , which he now uses to curl ducklings. He's been known to go on three mile runs with me about once a week. He's racing the last leg. I know he's super competitive, so he'll definitely won't give it up easily. Look at that game face. 

Person who's challenged (Totally sounds like I'm talking about a disability, but I didn't know what to call myself).

Hopefully, like this picture, I will crush them. Even though I did finish a half marathon like three weeks ago, I've been reduced to running once a week for my long run. I hope to at least get one speed work in this week. And if I do lose, lose with dignity by five minutes at most. 

Wish me luck! And stay tuned for the race this Saturday. As more information is available (as I decide on more race details), I will let you guys know.

And I looked like a total creeper at the library going through all the guys' photos and saving them to put on the blog.

Anyone know any good speed workouts? Or wanna advise me on race strategy?