running outside=glorious!

current temperature in sheridan, wyo is 36*.
about an hour ago it was probably 25*.

I was half “forced” to do something other than the gym today. I went to the gym with all intentions of doing a “cross training” workout. when I got there I noticed, not a single car in the parking lot. sweet. the whole gym to myself. I scanned my key card to get in. it unlocked, but the door wouldn’t open. after a closer look, I noticed that the door was pushed in beyond the door jam thingy. I jerked and jerked and never got it to open. it appeared the only way you were going to get it open was by pushing from the inside. no wonder no one else was at the gym. so…I climbed back in my car and drove home. I had already taken my pre-workout supplement, so I felt like it was a waste if I didn’t do something.

the weather was gorgeous. not cold if you had the right amount of clothes on. no wind. sunny. pretty perfect. so I braved the outdoors and told myself I was going to do the 5K loop that I know in town. too get to the beginning its about a 0.5 mile from my house. I asked around the house to see if anyone wanted to join me.

I got this look in response.

“a run?! I’ll go for a run with you Mom! oh please, oh please! pick me!”

so I stretched out, walked outside to make sure I was really going to do this. I doubled checked that Twogwotee was ready to go.

I’m pretty sure this is a face of…”are we EVER going to do this?”
don’t mind her ears…she’s lucky if she’s got them going in the same direction at the same time. they’re a little big for her….I wonder if she’ll ever grow into them.

the only snowy part of the run was the beginning and ending. my side road to get to the main road and the nice little bike path they have through town. the city does a very nice job of plowing the path through town immediately after a storm. its better taken care of than some of the streets. this run tested me, that’s for sure. the elements are a LOT different outside than on a treadmill (as I expected). this is the first time I had hills thrown in. I wanted to stop. I wanted to walk. I pushed through. the first little walk I did was over halfway into my run, and it was only for the purpose to take a few snap shots of the surrounding gorgeous-ness.

ignore the fence, really. the fence is for the “zoo.” there are a few buffalo (including a baby from last spring) and some elk in this “zoo.” you usually only see the buffalo. they were on top laying in the feed/hay. I was trying to get a picture of the glorious Bighorn Mountains.

nice clear running path. made it easy to focus on the running, breathing, and not tripping over Twogwotee. this actually only happened about once…and it was at the beginning. she likes to play with the leash for the first few blocks of our walks. this was the first day we tried a run. I think she did an amazing job. I was very proud of my little girl.

still glorious! just a few weeks ago when I was out walking this same path in a tank top and shorts the creek was completely open. not any more. I think the sub 0 temps had something to do with that.

“how you holding up Twogs?”
“great Mom! this is fun. but maybe could you slow down? I’m getting tired.”

remember I don’t have a garmin watch, so I just kind of have to guess how well I did with my regular watch and my splits I had set up.
for the first 0.5 mile; 4.54 minutes. perfect little pace.
the next 3 miles-ish (I may have taken off about 0.1 mile without the cut through the park where the start and finish were set up last fall; 28:35.
(side note: this 5K was walked last year by my mother and I for breast cancer awareness, that’s how I know the route is a 5K. )
the last 0.5 mile back to house; 5:24
total time for ~4 miles; 38:55
not too shabby for my first outdoor run. I’m more than happy with it. I felt great. I felt confident, except on the hills, but that will come with time. I’m happy that I finished under 40 minutes. better than a 10 minute mile.

nice stretch at home post run.
1.) don’t mind the crazy look in my eye.
2.) don’t mind the crazy woman hair…I had already taken my buff off.
3.) don’t mind my bright red legs. I really wasn’t cold.
4.) don’t mind all the dog toys surrounding me. my whole house is littered with them.

I did change out shoes for my outdoor running experience. felt great.

 

this is what I ran in. sports bra (not seen), tshirt (not seen), long sleeve North Face shirt (blue), North Face down vest (black) and shorts. and I was perfect! If the temperatures were a little higher, I might opt out of the vest. I did have my buff on and also gloves so my hands didn’t get cold. I even managed to break a little sweat. it felt great. who needs the gym? I can’t wait to get back outside for another run with my new partner.