Its been a beautiful weekend for running and its expected to last a few more days here in the northeast (although I won’t be able to enjoy it) … it really is nice to finally have some decent weather instead of the cold weather we’ve been stuck with. I found that the nice forecasts can be a little deceiving though, because although the air temperature was 39 degrees this morning when I headed out, the 8-10mph wind coming from the north really did make it kind of chilly taking the wind chill down to around 25. It wouldn’t be too bad normally, but i’m starting to shed some of my outer layers as the spring approaches… (which i’ve been waiting to do).

The nice weather, of course, brings out the recreational runners as they escape from their treadmills from the winter .. you know, the people I haven’t seen out running since October of last year. Its really been pretty lonely for the past few months out there … there are 2 women I saw outside all winter and a guy down the road who heads out every morning about the same time I do. I’ve managed two years without any treadmill running, and I don’t miss it at all. I was in a conversation the other day about how treadmill running and road running are two different levels of training, then compared it to road bike riding vs. spinning. I then recalled when I was exchanging emails with someone who was actually training for the Ocean Drive marathon on the treadmill .. even doing 18 milers on it (his max distance run). I think I did 16 miles once on a treadmill, and it just sucked, totally. I’ll have to see how he did in the race though, I can’t imagine how well someone can train for a marathon on a treadmill, but I’ll find out.

With just 3 weeks to the day when I run the Ocean Drive marathon, I’m left with one more 22 miler next weekend .. I did pretty good yesterday with running 22 miles for the second week in a row. I kept my pace much better than last week also. I did overdress and dehydrated by the end .. and I even stopped for a water refill this week too, and i’m thankful I did. This morning I came back with another 12.25 miles of what I called “semi-hills” .. its nothing like the Sunday workouts I had been doing because I had to stay within 2-3 miles from the house, so I couldn’t do my killer hill course this week. I feel like its all coming together slowly .. the runs are continuing to get easier.

Probably the biggest struggle I’m having right now with the weather changing is finding the right set of layers to wear when I head out. I guess i’ve gotten so accustomed to one outfit all through the winter in the effort of staying warm, that now its time to start shedding the layers, its hard to find the right combination. I wrote above that the forecast can be deceiving this time of year, so just because its 35 degrees, you still have to consider the wind chill. I’ve taken off the skull cap and the gloves for two days in a row, so it might be time to just shed them totally … but I’m not sure i’m ready yet. I then tried to look back at March of last year in my blog and realized I didn’t write ONE post last March .. I think that was when I was struggling and questioning whether i’d ever marathon again, but then I came back.. anyway, I had nothing to compare it to since I hadn’t been tracking my runs much because I wasn’t really training for anything…

So I’ve got 2 marathons scheduled for the fall now … I’ll do the Lehigh Valley Vealth Vetwork marathon again in September, just because. And I’ll also do the Chicago marathon, which i’ll register for bother of them next weekend. I registered for the New York City marathon lottery the other day, it seems they are doing the lottery MUCH earlier this year (late March instead of late May). It caused me to look back to last year to make sure I didn’t miss something, but it was June 4th last year that i got the notification from them that I wasn’t selected. If that falls through, we’ll do something else … and then maybe even find another for the late fall since i’ll probably be in optimal marathon shape by then.. who knows.

So with 3 weeks to go until the first spring marathon, this is the last real hard week before I start to taper .. it won’t be long though until I’m back pushing it again for the Flying Pig marathon on May 2nd, that’ll be here before I know it!

And to those SPAMMERS out there .. stop spamming my blog, now I have to find yet another way to keep you away. Ugh, don’t you have something better to do with your time?