Marathon training is officially underway!

Last weekend marked the official start of training for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon.

The night before the opening training run, Green Bay was blessed with an ice storm.  Freezing rain started early Friday evening and continued well into the night.  By the time Saturday morning showed up, there was a glaring sheet of ice several inches thick through out the entire city!  I opted to skip the Prevea Saturday Morning run and wait until Sunday to put in my miles.

And I am so glad that I did!  Even though Sunday afternoon was not much warmer, the extra day allowed time for some of the ice to melt on the streets... I however did have to do the "penguin walk" for 4 blocks when I left the house before I found streets that were not covered in sheets of ice.  But once I found that point, I was off.

 The last few weeks were spend on the Dreadmill, putting in some needed miles, hiding in the basement.  UGH.  I would rather run outside in ran, cold or snow than inside, but Mother Nature seems to have come down with a twisted sense of humor and has blessed us with some very extreme weather that has made running outside nearly impossible.  When temps drop to -15 or below, the last thing that I want to do is try and run outside.  So I dealt with what I had to!  But getting outside was awesome!

Overall, it was a great first run outside of the season! As long as I kept to the more well traveled streets and payed attention to which side of the road saw more sunlight, it was fairly smooth running.  Before long, I had my 5 miles in!  and as if on cue, as soon as I hit my 5 miles point, John and Darrin were heading home from errands and passed where I was at... just about to start my 4 block penguin walk home!

Fast forward  to today.  I gave myself a challenge that many people told me was crazy... I was going to head out for the Prevea Training run at 7am and then hit the gym for the 9am circuit class.  It was officially the coldest run of the year (or that I think I have ever done!) so far, a balmy -4 when I started!  Despite the cold, it still felt great do get outside and run.  After a month of treadmill running, the cold was refreshing and actually awakening!

just a little cold out there this morning!

Running with a few hundred people this morning also gave me a sense of renewal... the 2014 running season has officially started and I was surrounded by people who share the same "insanity" as me. We run.  Why?  Everyone has their own reason, but whatever that reason is, it is what keeps us going, keeps us getting up at all hours of the morning, it various (often inconceivable) running conditions.  Most of all, for many of us, no matter what the ultimate why is, we have also grown to love running.

After my run, a quick stop in the Distillery to warm up a bit was in order.  I can officially say this is the first time that I can remember going out for a run and actually coming back covered in frost!  Someone actually told me I looked very Eskimo-ish!  Not my preferred look, but it's days like this that we will remember when we are complaining about running in the summer heat!

Then it was off to the gym for a dose of insanity from Ty.  Insanity was it!  It was a full cardio core circuit!   After 6 miles, it was going to be tough, but I was determined to make it through.  A few of the stations were a challenge, but I was not going to let this workout get the best of me.  I pushed through and came out smiling on the other end.  After we finished our workout, I told Ty that although I may make faces at him and look like I am scowling, I will never complain about a tough workout!  Today, I proved to myself that after that 6 mile training run, getting through his circuit workout proved that I still had more left after the run!

What challenges us, only makes us stronger!  Here is to continually finding things to keep challenging me!

Next weekend... 7 miles plus a visit to the gym after for more from Ty!