New Country for Old Mien

Another day, another snow storm. I'm sick of writing about the weather. We got three inches of snow last night and we're supposed to get another three to five inches throughout the day. However, I feel like the break is coming. It's right around 30 degrees today, which feels balmy by comparison to the last couple weeks. This weekend, it's supposed to get up to the 40s. So, this snow isn't going to stick around. However, it may mean today is a rest day.

For the past several months, my favorite park has been partially closed during the construction of a "green" building and a new parking area. The construction closed the last half mile of the path, which turned a six-mile out-and-back into a five-miler. Last night, the path was open. It was the first time I'd run the whole thing since September. I missed that half-mile uphill.

After all my hemming and hawing about online running logs, I've finally switched to a spreadsheet. I got really inventive and Googled "running log template." Oddly enough, the very first result was an Excel file from one David Hays. Don't know the guy, but so far I like the running log.

That 15K I've talked about is coming up on March 9. This is going to be a terrible race. It's going to hurt. I haven't gone much beyond seven miles all year and this race has a vicious hill right near the end. I'm slow. I haven't been following a training program. It's going to be ugly. As long as I walk away without a limp, it'll be a good race. And since I haven't run a 15K before, it will be a PR.

As much as the Shamrock 15K will be a pitiful race, it should get me primed for the Canal Park 5K. I've never been big on 5Ks, but I'm pretty excited about this race. First, I think I can PR, which will give me two PRs in one month. Not a bad way to start of the year, eh? Secondly, the perks are pretty nice: a long sleeve T-shirt and two tickets to see the Akron Aeros, which is the AA minor league baseball affiliate for Cleveland.

Ah, baseball ...