Were having a heat wave here with temps in the high 20s & wind chills in double digits for the first time in over a week. Cabin fever got the best of me yesterday and even though there was 2 or 3 inches of new snow on the ground, I got out for a real good run yesterday. I used the Merrell trail runners and had little problem in the snow. Did just over 6 miles with an average speed of 9:32. My thighs are achy a bit, I am guessing from slipping just a little when I torqued. The snow made for awesome scenery. I ran along Lake St Clair for about 3 of the miles and saw a couple of freighter out in the snowy haze.
I have a gear review. I wanted a new way to carry water. Last fall I bought a hand held water bottle that I found annoying. I picked up an Amphipod Run Lite 4 belt:
http://www.amphipod.com/8400/8400.html I am quirky as heck about what I wear, so I was worried I’d hate the feel of a belt. But, I test drove it yesterday and found I didn’t even notice I was wear it. I used 2 of the 4 bottles, which was one of the reasons I bought this one as you can mix and match bottles. The pouch is perfect too. It is large enough to fit my Blackberry, again, without noticing it was there. The only thing I didn’t like was that the water started to freeze during the run. I think I am going to really like this. When I do longer runs, I’d typically try and turn at the house around half way. This will allow me to just take the Garmin and go run. I may even wear it at times just for the pouch and belt. I also picked up a shuffle this year and haven’t been able to find a good place I like to clip it. I had it on the belt yesterday too.
I have also been wondering, for a while, the level of aches & pain you all have and want to see if I am normal (at least in terms of the aches & pains). I tend to be sore after my longer runs and achy in the mornings just about every day. If I threw out a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “I feel great, best shape of my life, like when I was in my teens – playing high school sports, 5 being “I notice its there, but can pop a few Advil and feel better” and 10 being “hmmmm, I better call and go see the Doc on this one”, I’d like to know how you all feel. You guys a logging a lot of miles and I’d guess there are levels of pain being dealt with. For me, I am almost 40, have a bunch of lingering sports injuries and have had both my feet operated in the past. I would say I am normally dealing with a level of ache in the 3 to 4 range. After my weekly long run (if I get one in) I am more in the 4 to 5, up to a 6. I usually skip the Advil as I don’t like to mask pain when I can, unless something is swelling. I am still dealing with a tendon issue with my foot, so that is around a 7 this morning (but was a 10 back in December and I did see the Doc). I don’t think I’ll ever feel like a 1 or 2, no matter if I took off a week or two or not. So, how do you all feel and is an average level of aches & pains in the range of almost popping the Advil normal (taking age, etc in to consideration)?
Lastly, Happy B-Day Thread. Before this, a 10K was the longest I had run and a 1/2 marathon was something I admired other people for doing. Thanks to all here who helped me realize a huge life goal!