It’s been weeks since I was on my Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday running schedule and I hope that once spring weather finally moves in to stay, I’ll be back to consistently running on those days. For now, though, I carefully plan out my runs based on the weather forecast so that I don’t find myself running on my treadmill (affiliate link) instead of slipping and sliding in the great outdoors. Five miles on a treadmill equals an eternity for me, but I’m always grateful I have it when I need it.

With a doozy of a snowstorm kicking up and expected to hit early Wednesday morning and continue throughout the day, I decided to move my hill repeats to Monday. I reasoned that I’d have a rest day on Tuesday should I decide to run outside during the early part of Wednesday’s snow instead of the deep post-storm snow on Thursday morning.

I ran five miles of long hill repeats after about a mile warmup. I feel like I’m starting to find my stride on the hills, and that’s a good thing considering my somewhat technical and quite hilly 25K trail race is less than two weeks away.

 

As expected, we woke up to snow on Wednesday morning; although, it didn’t start until after 5 AM. Having canceled my morning clients, I slept in until 7:30 and was treated to watching these two foxes playing in our back yard until they decided to go hang out on our neighbor’s deck.

 

By 11 AM a plow had made it’s first passing on our street (impressive for Virginia) so I headed out for my run. I stayed on the newly cleared path as snow swirled around my face and covered the street once again. My trail shoes did the trick and I didn’t need to wear my Yaktrax (affiliate link). The snow tapered off about half way through my run, leaving me with pretty fantastic running conditions (the snow started later and ended earlier than forecasted so we got much less than expected). I left my plowed street and headed to the trail behind my house for the latter part of my run, just so I could admire the beautiful snow covered trees.

I wore my 2010 Boston Marathon jacket, something I rarely wear, but chose because it shows up so beautifully against the white snow. It’s made of a tight twill fabric with a mesh lining and, sadly, it’s almost always too hot for me to wear. Even though I wore it over just my sports bra without a shirt, I still got too hot.

 

After my run, I walked over to my neighbor’s yard to take a picture of their flowering cherry tree. I heard this week that the peak blooming dates have been moved back yet again to April 8-12 for the National Cherry Trees due to the recent colder temperatures.

 

Wednesday afternoon Daniel sent us pictures and video of Pablo enjoying his first real snow. He was hilarious jumping around and attacking those evil little snowballs.

 

By Saturday morning, all of the six-plus inches of snow on the trail had melted and Tracy and I had a great reunion run. We hadn’t seen each other in forever and couldn’t wait to catch up! Even though it was only 30° when we started our run at 7:30 AM, I knew the March sun would warm things up quickly so I opted for shorts. Within a few miles, we both shed our jackets and it seemed like a no-brainer for me to roll my jacket inside itself and attach it to my SPIbelt (affiliate link). Unfortunately, it bounced like crazy and even after I slid it around to the side it still drove me nuts. We laughed hysterically at my tail and Tracy took a picture before offering to carry it (my hands were full with my water bottle and GoPro).

 

After our turnaround, we found the tortoise and hare again. Unfortunately, the hare had been knocked or blown off his rock pedestal and he’s lost his front paws, an injury that will surely slow him down in his next race.

 

I returned Tracy to the parking lot after ten miles and headed back out for four more. Runners’ math is a real thing and I misjudged my turnaround and ended up running a bit over fourteen…

 

While I was out running, Bill was over on the C&O Canal riding his bike. On his way home, he stopped at Chick-fil-A and surprised me with a chocolate milkshake giving him husband of the year status!

With milkshake in hand, I happened to look out our kitchen window right as Frasier, our blue heron, landed in our back yard. He looked over into the creek, jumped into the water, stabbed a fish, and proceeded to enjoy a delicious brunch. Bill grabbed his long lens and captured these amazing pictures. As I type this on Sunday morning, Frasier has caught another fish and two turkey vultures are watching and begging for leftovers.

 

Yes, our back yard provides endless wildlife entertainment!

 

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

Looking ahead to this coming week, tomorrow I’ll post my March Race Linkup. Please feel free to join me and let your friends know which races they can find you running in the next few months..

 

In addition to what I mentioned above, here’s a complete run-down of my workouts (completely mostly in our home gym) from this past week…

 

  • Questions:
  • How’s your runners’ math? Tell me a funny story where you totally screwed it up!
  • When it comes to milkshakes, do you enjoy them, and if so, what’s your favorite flavor? ~ I absolutely love an occasional milkshake and love chocolate!
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking The Long Way Home for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

 

I’m also linking up with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC for her Training Recap linkup. Be sure to check out how Courtney the other great bloggers joining the linkup are doing on their spring marathon and half marathon training.