Week 13: Eight miles

I did my long run a day early this week, because of the planned trip to Ontario Mills tomorrow for Christmas shopping. A mere eight miles! I did about 11-1/2 loops at the park, and walked the final 1/2 loop for a cooldown. Whole thing took about two hours and 15 minutes, right on pace.

It was a good run, no problems, except that it was C O L D!!!!! I don't think it got much above freezing all day. I knew it was going to be cold, and wore my cotton exercise pants, running shirt, and hooded sweatshirt -- but it was still just barely enough. I should have worn my sweatpants, too. I had planned to, but decided at the last minute that they might be too warm (and they might have been, if the sun had come out, as it was forecast to) and changed to the cotton pants. But it was cloudy and windy and probably a good 10 degrees colder than the weather forecast said it would be, so BRRR.

It was my first long run with my iPod -- way cool! I listened to "Common Threads," Green Day's "American Idiot," and Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory." I had wondered, if you set it to play the songs in order instead of randomly, whether it would start from the beginning each time, or pick up where it left off last time. Answer: it picks up from where it left off. That's cool, that way I'll get more variety in my music.

Afterwards, I went to mom's house for lunch. We'd been planning to go out to lunch, so I brought a change of clothes so I could shower and put on street clothes when I was done. We ended up staying in, but I was glad to be able to shower and change afterwards, anyway. Wearing sweaty running clothes all afternoon gets uncomfortable and cold.

I'm going to shop for a running watch and possibly a new pair of shoes tomorrow. I might see if I can find some cold-weather running clothes, too. It's only going to get colder for the next couple of months.