Windy-n-cold out-n-back!

I got up this morning and knew that I needed to do a quick 5 miles.  But I was just not feelin' it at all!  My legs were still sore from Sunday's 20 miler.  Looked at the weather ... clear and 48°.  Brrrr!  So I bundled up in a long sleeve shirt, running tights and gloves and headed out.  I was glad that I had chosen warm clothes because the wind was whippin'!  When I turned the corner at the end of my street, I almost went right back home and got a hat.  My ears were freezing!  But whatever, I just kept going.  I figured I would warm up quickly.  My legs felt like lead and I knew I was running slow.

My early morning 5-mile course is out to Hawaiian Falls and back.  When I got to the main road that leads to HF, and there were no more houses blocking the wind, it was just brutal!  A straight-on headwind.  But the good thing was that it would be a nice tailwind on the way back.  Got to Hawaiian Falls just as the sun was coming up.  It was pretty neat because I usually run in complete darkness on weekday morning runs.  But since the kids are out of school all week for Thanksgiving, I got to run about an hour later than usual.  The sunrise over the golf course was really pretty so I stopped for a minute to take a quick picture with my phone.

I was right ... the wind at my back was really strong on the way back from HF.  I haven't run in this kind of wind in a very long time.  I don't notice the wind at all when I run in the neighborhood.  But in the open, it was really blowing hard today.  When I ran past some flags I had to take a picture because the flags were flapping and the ropes were clanging.

And I was really, REALLY glad I remembered my dorky safety glasses this morning.  I get terrible windburn under my eyes even when it's not windy.  So this cold wind would have just killed me.  It's so bad that if I run for a few days without glasses, I actually crack and bleed under my eyes.  OUCH!  But, like I said, my glasses are pretty silly-looking.  No one sees them when I run in the mornings because it's still dark.  And on the weekends I wear sunglasses.  But today, the sun came up while I was still running so hopefully not too many people laughed at my glasses.  :)  I'll let you see just how funny I look.  Here's a picture of me the day I bought the glasses.  Pretty cool, huh? Well I don't care.  Love them!

I mentioned that my legs felt heavy and I was just not feeling this run.  About half way through I decided I needed to kick it in gear a little so I didn't pull my slowest time ever for this course.  And to my surprise, I ran the course the fastest I ever have!  Weird.  Ran it a minute faster than last week.  9:15 pace.  Maybe all that wind helped out cause I sure did not feel like I was running well.  And maybe the cold helped too.  Who knows.  The temperature actually dropped while I was running and it was only 46° when I got home.

I have 8 tomorrow and 5 the next day.  May flop those so I can do the longer run on Thanksgiving when I don't have to work.  Looking at my training calendar is just strange.  The longest I will run before the marathon is 12.  Funny that 12 miles seems short to me now.  :P