First running birthday, first 30 km run

On this day last year, I ran for 30 minutes straight. It was after being injured for over a year. I had done some running before that but I couldn't really call myself a runner, since injury came not long after I started.

How did I celebrate my first running birthday?

I ran, of course.

In fact, my plan was to do my longest run of the year to date, with the goal being 30 km.

When I woke up this morning, the "light" snow they had warned us of turned out to be a rather sizeable dump of snow. And the temperature of -8 C / 17 F they predicted was more like -14 C / 7 F. I waited until it warmed up to -10 C / 14 F (though Accuweather said the Realfeel temperature was more like -22C / that's -7.6 F, with the wind chill and humidity). Then, I headed out. It didn't warm up much through the day either.

Jeeeezuuussss!!!

I am not conditioned to run in the cold weather and my longest run to date is 15 miles / 24 km. The thought of doing 30 km or 18 miles, just didn't seem possible.

But I took lots of breaks, fuelled well and in the end here are the Garmin stats:

Time: 3:58:47
Distance: 18.87 mi or 30.37 km
Avg. pace: 12:39 min/mi or 7:51 min/km
Avg. speed: 4.7 mph or 7.6 kph
Max. speed: 6.4 mph or10.2 kph
Avg. HR: 141 bpm
Max. HR: 157 bpm

It was slow, even for me. But given the cold and the fact that my longest run was 3 miles or about 6 km less than today's effort, I am OK with the pokeyness. I can work on speed when the conditions are more reasonable.

Believe it or not, I did overheat a bit and ended up taking off my long underwear in a public washroom along the way. I had no choice but to tie them around my waist. There they were... white, Wilson brand, long underwear, with a big orange stripe around the waist band, rolled up, with each leg wrapped around one side of my waist and tied in the middle. Very attractive.

I was testing out new winter Pearl Izumi running pants, which are lovely and warmer than I expected, so the long underwear was overkill. I arranged the route so there would be a stop at the car just after the halfway point. Then I dumped the long underwear and one of the top layers. Having said that, after 4 hours, the front of my legs were a bit cold and I noticed my knees were getting a bit creaky.

Some random thoughts that occured to me along the way (a.k.a. thoughts only other runners would get):

• I really hope my Vaseline isn't frozen when I get back to the car.
• (After finishing the run, and upon returning to the car) Hey, cool, my pb&j sandwich isn't completely frozen. I can still eat it!
• Running in the cold isn't so bad.
• Running in the cold sucks!
• My knees don't feel too bad.
• My knees are sore.
• Thank God for the men who clear the river pathways. I mean really, thank God for them!

At the end, minimal discomfort in the way of blisters and GI issues, which made me very happy. I think it has something to do with slowing down. Mind you... maybe my body was just too shocked by the cold to rebel.

And with that, I happily celebrate my birthday as a one year old runner, and a 37-year old human. Yup, it's my real birthday today, too. Cool, eh?