Freakishly Flexible 5K...Plus!

Today in honor of Non-Runner Nancy the blogosphere held a virtual race for her. Maggie, being the good morning dog that she is, was ready to get up just after 6 am. I looked outside and it was snowing...and -15C. Brr! I putzed around on the computer, whipped up a bowl of oatmeal, and knew that things really weren't going to improve. Time to put on my big girl panties and run. Or make that my long johns. I also pulled out the Yak Trax. The first mile was pretty slow going, but after that things picked up a bit. I wasn't running the 5K to be speedy since I had to run a total of 12K for the day. I finished the first 5K up in 31:12

The snow was pretty light and I was dressed well enough that the -15C didn't feel too bad. The rest of the run went pretty quickly, and then it was home to relax!

Thanks to all the folks who participated in the Virtual Valentine's Exchange! I hope everyone has a great day!

Virtual Valentine Exchange?

I am not the hugest fan of Valentine's out there. True, I've typically been single on Valentine's Day, but even as part of a couple I think that you shouldn't need one day on a calendar to show the other person how you feel. But past the bah humbugs, last night I was remembering when I was a kid at school we used to decorate envelopes to hang on the front of our desk. During lunch or a break in class you would try to drop a Valentine in your friends' envelopes without them knowing. It was a cute way to tell your friends (or the boy that you had a crush on) that you cared.

So what would you guys think of a virtual Valentine's exchange? At Christmas Nikemom put together a Christmas card exchange that I thought was a lot of fun, so kind of along the same idea.

• E-mail me at runnerleana at gmail dot com with your name, blog address and e-mail address by Friday, February 13th at 6 pm PST.
• I'll e-mail you back with your secret Valentine Friday evening.
• Send your secret Valentine an e-card, or a note, or whatever you like on Saturday, February 14th.

You may discover a new blog or get to say hi to a friend! I realize there isn't a lot of time, so if you could help me out and pass the good word along to your readers as well, then that would be fantastic!

February 14th is also the Freakishly Flexible 5K for Non-Runner Nancy. Head over this way if you would like more information and to participate.

And don't forget to enter for your chance to win a free download of Running the Sahara here!

7 on the 7th - A Virtual Race

Amanda over at Run to Finish has been throwing together some fantastic challenges to keep us motivated during the winter season. Yesterday she was the race director for 7 on the 7th - a virtual race! I had 10K on my schedule and I figured that I could probably bump it up a bit to run 7 miles. Why not?

It was cool in the morning but it was quickly warming up as the sun was out. After all of my complaining about the icy, slippery sidewalks in my neighborhood last weekend...I decided to run around my neighborhood. We've had some good sun to help melt stuff a bit so I was feeling optimistic that road conditions might have improved slightly. I was also hoping that after some ART my right leg would be feeling a bit more cooperative. And speaking of which, it looks as though a very tight right hip flexor is to blame for pretty well everything hurting in the leg. I guess it is all connected!

As I got moving things were feeling pretty good. I started off nice and slow and then wound up picking up speed throughout the run. The blue sky, the clear mountains for a backdrop...it was absolutely amazing out there. There were still some slippery portions out there - so I apologize for any lawns I walked on. Seriously though, these people should not have let the ice build up on their sidewalks! It was a lot better than last week though. I had no expectations for a time or pace since my neighborhood is pretty hilly. No matter what though, since my house is at the top of a hill it always makes for a tough ending to any run and I was huffing and puffing up the final hill pretty well.

When I first started this running thing I was doing the Jeff Galloway run/walk approach. I started out at 4:1 intervals...moved to 9:1...to 19:1... I've also been working on cutting out walk breaks entirely on longer and longer runs. So yesterday I ran 7 miles, no walking. Good stuff!

Anyhow, final results for my 7 miler? 1:11:17. I'll take it!

Thanks for putting on the race Amanda!