Three Day Report

What's the good word, yo? Today has been a long, tired day. Yesterday was also long, which made today tired and Friday was just a good productive day.

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Friday - Still Working on them Windurs

Yep, just as I thought I'm still working on my storm windows. The temperatures and snowflakes have already fallen and I still don't have my act together. I picked up some primer earlier this week, driving the repair cost of my shitty storm windows up to $80. Christ!

So Friday morning I picked up a brush and slapped a coat of primer on one side of each window. Since I'm working in the cold basement it takes a while to dry, and I couldn't get to the other side. No skin off my teeth.

Instead of watching the paint dry, I threw a few loads in the washing machine. It was a sunny day, around 30 degrees so I put the first load out on the clothesline. It was all running clothes save a pair of khakis so I knew it would dry in the sun. For the second load I bit the bullet and used the dryer. Oh well, I knew I couldn't dry outside forever. Plus, spring will be here before we know it.

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Saturday, a New PR

Saturday morning was a cold, nagging bitch of a day. It was the kind of day that makes you want to curl up in front of a fire, drink cocoa and read a book. Well, instead of doing those things I headed out to Northampton, MA for The Hot Chocolate Run. It's a 5k started by the mayor herself, with proceeds going to help victims of domestic abuse/violence. I had already paid for it, so I had to go.

The beauty of the Hot Chocolate Run is that at the end they have tents set up with, you guessed it, hot chocolate for everyone. In fact, the first 2,500 entrants get a mug too. What blew was that it was about 20 degrees, windy as a sumbitch and we got there too late for a proper warm up. With mere moments left before the race started I lined up in the corral alongside the sign for the 20:00 5K runners. That's been my goal all summer, and if I could hang with someone fast just maybe I could break that barrier.

As I stood there, my toes completely numb and hands not far behind, the guy next to me was describing the route to whoever was listening. I'm going to paraphrase here, but I think it's fairly accurate:

After the first turn up here at (insert name of street) it's a gradual uphill. After the first mile is The Big Hill (which I had heard other people discussing). You gotta just hang on for a half mile and you'll be at the top. Nobody's setting a PR (personal record) on this course (he said with a chuckle), it's too hilly. At the top of the hill you'll get to the Gust of Wind. You'll make a hard turn to the right and it's all downhill from there.

Well, The Big Hill was not that big for the finely tuned Western Mass Athletes I rolled out there with. In fact, despite never discussing the hill before we all came to the conclusion "where was that hill?". And The Gust of Wind, apparently a local landmark, was there exactly where the guy described.

The whole way up what I guess was the hill I picked off runner after runner. There was one guy however, who sort of played leapfrog with me. I let him get ahead and hung off his shoulder (not literally) for the rest of the race. When we turned the last corner, about 3/10ths of a mile from the finish I was on pace to break 20:00. I put everything I had into the last kick and crossed the finish line at 19:39, 0:21 faster than my goal!

Not only did I set a PR on this "hilly" course, but everyone else I rode out with did too. We had lofty goals, but we've been working hard at the track every week and it payed off. I almost threw up on the timing chip girl, but it would still have been worth it to set that new record.

The hot chocolate afterwards was awesome, and they had mini marshmallows by the tubful, that you got to add to your own hot chocolate with a soup ladle. Oh, I fucked UP some hot chocolate and marshmallows.

The drawback to attending a race in a college town is that all the guys are in my age group (18-29), so there's no chance of winning any prizes. On the flip side, all the girls are in my age group too. It was lycra heaven, let me tell you!

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Sunday, an Easy Run

Sunday morning we had a trail run set up for 9:00 AM. Like Saturday it was cold as a bitch again, but at least it wasn't as windy. I dragged my ass out of bed, suited up and headed down the cold road towards the meeting spot.

Blah blah blah, we got navigationally sidetracked a few times as we usually do, and it ended up being a really long run. So long in fact that my body was really starting to cool off. My hands were completely numb and I was getting that "I need to get out of this cold before my body shuts down" feeling.

When I got to my house, I walked into the kitchen to get my shoes off. I pulled my gloves off with my teeth and started untying my shoes. I could see from the getgo that my thumbs didn't work. Not that they didn't work well, they didn't work at all. I could barely move them. I rubbed my hands together to warm them up and noticed that I was numb up a few inches past my wrists. I finally got the shoes off without using my thumbs, yanked my shirts off and put on warm and dry shirts. I was numb from the elbow down. Shit! I guess the thin windbreaker and one long sleeved shirt weren't enough for my arms. I had a short sleeved shirt on underneath, but that didn't help the forearms.

It was probably 15-20 minutes before my thumbs were back in effect, and another half hour before I was completely warmed back up. I spent the next few hours in wool socks, flannel pants, a turtleneck and fleece sweatshirt, wrapped in a thick blanket on the couch before I was really 100% again. Lesson learned? Yup, wear two long sleeved shirts and maybe some warmer gloves. There's always a little learning curve at the beginning of the winter, but I typically err on the side of being too warm instead of too cold. I guess there's a first time for everything.

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That's that. I've got dinner in the oven and I'm gonna settle in for the evening. I'll holler at y'all later.

Over and Out,
Old Coot