That said, here’s some things I learned:

1) Your coworker will definitely think you’re a goober asking her to take a picture of you geared up (and she’s right)

 2) Putting all of your winter gear on in your office and not immediately heading outside will make you overheat

3) No, your watch is not broken. You actually are running much slower because you are carrying a backpack. No need to stop and restart it. It’s accurate. 

4) People will look at you weird because you’re running on a Friday after work carrying a backpack

5) Some other people also run on a Friday, after work, with a backpack and these people are your peeps. They will smile and wave 

6) There are few things I enjoy more than the city at night 

Today I was able to enjoy my first (of what I assume will be many) snowy run of the season. I have to say, running in the snow is one of my favorite things to do!

It’s so much fun to do runs somewhere different. Even though I grew up in Suffield, I never got to see it from the runners perspective. I’ve passed this pond/brook/dam many times by car, but breaking for a brief photo-op at te halfway point of my run to take these was kind of fun. 

 Give me a little time to get better with “on the run” photo ops! Haha I’m super excited, though, because I bought my phone a lifeproof case so many more wintry wet pictures to come!

I got home covered in snow, but it was totally worth it. My feet, however, remained completely dry and warm so Santa hit the mark with the new sneakers 🙂

Looking forward to running into a healthy and happy New Year. I’m thinking about trying to hold some sort of fundraiser event in the next few months. This is all very new to me. Any thoughts, suggestions or experience (i.e. willingness to help??) I think it would be great to do something to celebrate this journey and my success to date with everyone in person. Hopefully more to come on this!

This weekend officially signified my first training run for the marathon! I did a nice 8 miles around town on Saturday, even getting in a little distance by the water. All of the snow from the past week, however, was actively melting in the unseasonably warm weather. Awesome because I literally ran in shorts, but not so awesome having my feet soaked through by the time I got home. To me having only my feet wet was way more uncomfortable than runs I have done in a full blown rain when my whole body would be soaked through. 

But in the end, a small price to pay to be back outside. I had been doing some runs on the treadmill recently given the weather, and more notably the lack of running space on sidewalks and the road, and I was starting to get a little stir crazy. It makes me wonder how things will go mid winter as I’m sure Mother Nature won’t modify her schedule to accommodate my long runs. Unless I just end up being that lucky!

Heading into the holiday feeling great and looking forward to a few days away from work. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!