12 miles in 13 degrees! And only a frozen face!

Well I did it! I actually got up at 4 this morning and met Tim, Lee, & Lana at the rec center. We did NOT tary - no stretching on my part. We wanted it OVER with! I had on my cold gear, a pair of fleece pants and a sweatshirt for my 2nd layer, $80 goosedown/gortex gloves and a $34 wool/fleece hat!

We ran out to Old Stone Fort and did a hill. Tim & Lee are running the Birmingham marathon, which is notorious for hills. We made a loop around the picnic area on the way out and jetted across the street to do a Morton's Lake loop - where there was a steep/semi-short hill that really got my heart STOMPING! At this point my body is pretty warm, believe it or not. My face? A different story. Numb, throbbing, stiff, frozen! So we head down 41 back to the bottom of jail hill and climbed it, of course! We ran all the way out to Walmart, thru the parking lot and made a loop next to the front door. Tim made the comment that if the Garmin would still get signal we coulda made a loop inside walmart. Geez.... it sounded GREAT at the time! Room temp? Anything over 30 sounded HOT and HOT was good! Any other time you can barely pay me to go in Walmart! haha :-) So back over the interstate, and this is where I really started hurting. Right around mile 8.5-9. I was having stomach issues. I was stupid and didn't eat anything but an oreo for dinner last night. And lunch?? Well it was a salad. No wonder the ol tummy is freaked out! I had to play that ILOC game. "Hello pain. How's it goin dude? Well I knew you'd be here and I expected you about right now, actually! You gonna run 3 with me? Maybe you won't stick around too long. Hey just so ya know.... you're attacking my face and I don't even know it because I'm numb!" all the way through town, down jail hill and about 100 yards from the rec parking lot Tim's garmin beeps 12 and we all stop with a 1:43 time which was an 8:35 pace. Ok, that's gotta be my fastest long run to date! These peeps can RUN! I am not sure how I could hang for the whole run except it was so freakin cold I really wanted to be finished ASAP!

So I get home right about the time the sun is coming up and I come in and grab Hattie because at one time during the most frigid run of my life, I did not think I would live to see her ever again! I immediately start peeling off frozen clothes, make sure my coffee is brewed, and run a hot whirlpool bath. I get in... it feels good for about 25 seconds and I really wish the water is hotter because I need to thaw! I sipped gatorade while soaking. I stuck my injured knee on a jet and let it massage it. Got out, dried off, dried the hair (a hairdryer never felt so good!) and jumped BACK in bed under my elec blanket. Next thing I know I'm waking up with terrible stomach cramps and a virus type feeling. I make 3 trips to the bathroom that were not pleasant. :-/ Was it the gatorade on an empty stomach? It almost felt like food poison but there was no food in my belly! I weighed and had lost a few pounds from the time I woke up until then. I felt so weak! I popped 2 saltine crackers and headed to work. Now.... I think I should do the smart thing and eat a healthy lunch!

Gotta work tomorrow - PeopleTools Patch 15 for my production systems! The great thing is.... I DID what I said I'd do again even though it was painful... and now it's time to cut loose for the weekend! TGIF!!!!! And POOF! Week 3 be GONE! I stomped yo butt! :-)