No Longer a Fair Weather Runner

I think I've finally broken my many-years-long streak of being a fair weather runner. I remember running through all the elements when I was in college but my commitment waned shortly after I graduated, and I'm ashamed to say that I've all too often reserved my runs for ideal weather. Needless to say, this minimizes my opportunities greatly. There were a few times while living in Maine when I'd run in the snow (but when would I have ever been able to run if I wasn't willing to brave some flakes up there?). My regimen over the past six months has been pretty sparse until recently. Having an almost-two year-old and a husband has done little to get me out, which is why training for a marathon is so helpful. I was discussing with some friends over the weekend about the ratio of women to men runners and we came to the conclusion that women were more concerned about their weight than men and thus more determined to log regular miles against all odds. I don't like falling into this category or for people to assume that I'm dragging myself out to lose weight. Over the summer I was jogging with Olive near the library when some men made the comment that I was "so close to losing the baby weight". Olive was nearly 18 months old at the time and the baby weight had been shed long before. I have to say, I resented the fact that it was implied that I was only running for that purpose and that purpose alone. I'm a runner. It's simply something that I have done for most of my life and will, God willing, do for most of the remainder of it. I do it because it's a great way to clear my head, improve my state of mind, keep my heart healthy (if not my joints), and set a good example for my daughter about the benefits of leading an active life. Staying "thin" is the least of the reasons why I run.

At any rate, I'm pleased that I have just gotten out of my rut. Though this one has been extraordinarily pleasant and mild, Pittsburgh winters aren't known for being kind, and we've been seeing more seasonal precipitation in the last week. Last Friday, thanks to a running buddy to keep me accountable, I enjoyed a lovely run in softly falling snow. Having broken the ice, I bundled up for another, longer, run on Sunday on very snowy sidewalks and temperatures in the teens. Today I took advantage of Rob's day off from the zoo and fit in my longest post-marathon run - a 2 1/2 hour jaunt across the Allegheny to the North Side around the aviary. It was cold, a little wet with a mix falling from the sky that ordinarily would've kept me indoors, and I was hungry, not to mention not accustomed to double-digit mileage just yet. Also, having realized that my iPhone doubles as a music player, I excitedly loaded two albums by my two favorite musicians, R.E.M. and Justin Townes Earle, onto it and plugged in the headphones. I'd underestimated just how problematic the headphones would be (they don't fit in my ears), and after stopping to readjust them by looping them over the fronts or backs of my ears, tying them around the front and back of my next, and recinching my running hood, I gave up one song into Harlem River Blues as I was approaching the 16th Street Bridge in the Strip and packed the uncooperative headphones into my pocket. Don't think for one second that I didn't order myself a set of Philips wraparound headphones on eBay as soon as I got home, because man, was that music nice! My head has been throbbing since mid-afternoon from exhaustion, as is usually the case when I run earlier in the day, but I'm so glad I did it. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to say I really trained for this marathon coming up in May, and that will feel really good.