Several firsts.

First first: I ran, outside, pushing Jake, with headphones on! My new treat to myself is that on the Fridays when Nate is at school I send the kids to lunch bunch. This means that they are in school from 9:10 until 12:30, eating lunch there. This just happens to be the perfect amount of time to allow Jake and I to go food shopping, put everything away, feed Jake an early lunch, and have a full hour to run at our favorite running trail. Food parts done, we got to the park at about 11:10. It was 38 degrees. I knew that Jake would fall asleep, as he did, by mile 2. I wore my long Athleta tights that are microfiber lined, a nike long sleeve shirt, an old north face hat, and some Asics gloves. I'm still learning how to dress for winter as a new runner who only gets outside infrequently. It was positively GLORIOUS. I saw 5 deer, 2 foxes, various dogs and their owners, and had a truly lovely jog. It is a relatively hilly loop, so I expiremented with sprinting up the hills (sprinting being a generous term when pushing 60 some lbs of stroller, of course). I use the mapmyrun app on my iPhone to keep my mileage and pace for me. I heard it ping at one point, and looked down to see a text from a friend who said she had just driven by me running on the trail. I was SHOCKED to see that it was 12:05.....and I pretty much sprinted the last mile plus to get back to the car by 12:15 and get to my bigs in time. The photo is my running buddy and I at the tail end of our 6.1.

The bigs went to nap, Jake (who had napped during the run) enjoyed a jacuzzi with me, and then we were up and at em for some house cleaning and snack getting. We got to the gym at about 4. I was hoping to run 7, to accomplish my goal of 13....but I felt so great I decided to go to 8. At that point dinner beckoned so I walked .3 to cool down and ran to get the kids. I will say I feel really proud of myself today ~ 14 miles, even split, is a new long distance for me.

My biggest impression? HUNGRY. I'm FREAKING HUNGRY. I'll get into fuel and nutrition at some point, but tonight I'm too busy digging into pizza and lettuce wraps with baba ghanouj. Once Jake gets to bed we have an elaborate evening of valentine decorating ahead of us (ugh. I do it, but jeez I wish I could just be okay with giving the pre made ones. I fully expect to be glitter encrusted in a matter of minutes). The bigs go to bed at 8 and I will be passed out after a hot shower by 8:30. Tomorrow is 90 minutes of yoga, my sweet husband gets home at night, and we have a fun race (the kids are running in the kids division!) on Sunday before much Superbowl revelry ensues. 14. I'm happy.

What do you wear when you are running in the cold?