*Remember, I’m not yet committed to this race. Getting closer every day, but we’ll see what happens once the deep freeze sets in.

Monday: 6.4 mi, paved trail + road (Lakewalk + Park Point)
Tuesday: 8.2 mi, road (Park Point)
Wednesday: 6.6 mi, road
Thursday: 15.2 mi, paved trail (entire Lakewalk both ways + a little extra)
Friday: 8 mi, road
Saturday: rest (holiday travel)
Sunday: rest (holiday travel + horrible weather)
Total: 44.4 mi

Biggest running week in awhile. Probably not a good idea, I am sure, but they’re not extremely challenging miles. I haven’t run on a technical trail in quite awhile, although that’s got to change soon.

I bitched about winter running in my previous post, as it’s been affecting my runs quite a bit. Running over unshoveled sidewalks, running on busy streets because the sidewalks are impassable for a block – or more! It sucks, and it’s limiting my routes. I’m going to be so sick of the Lakewalk in a few weeks.

I have been running with my trail shoes, as they have lugs for traction on the bottom, which have been sufficient so far. I haven’t tried them on a snowy trail yet, so I may need to replace the chain grippers I had last year, but I’d prefer not to. I received some gift cards for Christmas for trail gear and shoes (from REI and Austin Jarrow, my fave local running store), so I’ll be stocking up on gear for the winter. I may or may not buy snowshoes, I haven’t decided.

My first long run in awhile went relatively well. It hurt a bit, that’s for sure, but the time really flew by. I carried a water bottle for the first time in a long time, and for awhile couldn’t figure out why I was so off balance – I thought I had vertigo. Turns out it was the sloshing of the water in the bottle. I ate gels for the first time since Wild Duluth, which went well. I was concerned my stomach wouldn’t be ready for them but I had no issues. I do have to make sure to carry them close to my body to prevent them from solidifying. Opening gels with gloves is also much more annoying than opening gels in nice warm weather with free hands. My gloves got a little sticky.

I originally planned on running 4 or so miles on Saturday before we headed down to the Twin Cities for our whirlwind Christmas tour, but my back was stiff and I didn’t want to push the miles. 44 was enough, 4 extra miles wasn’t going to have any benefit, and I was going to sit in a car for 2.5 hours.

15 more weeks to go. I haven’t set my “drop dead” date for signing up for the race. I think that’ll come after my first huge back-to-back weekend.