Friday nights and 14:
Okay- this past Friday will be my last late night for awhile! We met friends for some drinks and pizza early with my thought that surely a drink or two would be an innocent thing. Generous friends' repeat rounds found me waking up at 2:30 that morning thinking "No way am I going 14 today!"

That morning saw wind gusts around 20 mph and we eyed the frozen sidewalks going up to the community center. I felt that perhaps our run might be cancelled? But heading into the room of runners and volunteers, I realized- we might change our course, but we were definitely heading out that day.

We started out with wind at our backs, and due to the street conditions, headed towards the hills where the footing was better. At the turnaround near Cleveland Circle and after making it up and over Heartbreak Hill, I had no clue as to how we would get back. But this is the crazy thing about running- with the wind in our face, we actually made pretty good time and through a stroke of extreme luck, managed to catch our coach, Rick, who was helping a line of runners back the last mile or two. Rick's encouragement, reminders to 'stay positive' and keep our form made it impossible NOT to make it back. Thank you, Rick!

Tips for the day: These are good for people who are thinking about training for distance runs:

-Foot care: Distance running can pound your feet and do some strange things to the tips of your toes and nails. If you plan weekly distance runs, plan your foot care several days ahead of this. Caring for blisters and addressing ingrown nails or other damage ahead of time will give your nerves a chance to cool down before the long push. As your mileage gets up, give your feet and toes a nice rub and stretch in the a.m.- they are your friends, so stay on their good side!

-Mental tricks: A trick I pulled out of the bag on Saturday was counting. When you look up that hill and just can't imagine getting up it, start pattern counting. The longer the better. When things look rosy, you can do a simple 'one and two and three and' and count off repeats to ten, but when things look bad or that hill looks long, stretch it out to make one set as long as it can possibly be. When you get your mind off the road and into a long count, you will be happy to see where you are by the time you've made it to 10 or 20 or 30....

A big thank you to the water teams who pass us Gatorade, water and goodies- I do not know how you manage to look so relaxed in below freezing temps- we are running and sweating, but you are standing there even as the drinks crust over with ice on top. You guys are the best! -M