Will winter ever end? (2014 edition)

How's winter treating you?  Winter sure is something in Worcester, and I always feel transformed at the end of it.

I really do love running in the winter, and I'm very capable of staying comfortable in the cold.  I spoke about this recently with Richard Diaz from the Natural Running Network and Vanessa Runs on the Natural Running Network Live Podcast.  You can find the episode here.

But by March,   I simply cannot take any more single digit runs.  I wake up to run, look at the pile of clothes, look at the thermometer saying -2, and I just.... can't.  Speed doesn't happen on the ice and the snow, and I'm done with the anxiety about falling on it.  I only fell once this year, and happily, only hurt my arm.  My eyelids are chafed and my hands are raw.

On the other hand,  in winter there is this:

There is nothing I love more than cross-country skiing with my kids.  A weekend like this, which was just seven days ago, leaves me wanting just, please, one more week of winter.  Can I not have it?  I suspect if I skied with them every day it would still never be enough.  Was this not just yesterday?

I'm crying here, people.  MY BABIES!

I probably should have started the post with this, but I ran the DurtyFeets 7K on February 8th at Wallum Lake.  This is part of a great series run by a friend of mine, Brad, aka DurtyFeets, and MRA Multisport.  I got lucky and won entry into the whole series in a raffle when I went to see In the High Country at the Boston Aquarium.  Which was a real stroke of luck because I was just looking for an excuse to run Brad's awesome series.  Can't wait for the next one up at Goat Hill!

This race is unusual because it is a night race through the snow.   The course was.....  snowy snowy snowy, and it was a HUGE challenge to run on.  I thought I was going to do pretty badly there, because I'm nursing a bad case of plantar fasciitis, but I ended up getting competitive out there.  I came in third out of ten women.  Here's some pics from the race:

Male 0-19 winner

This guy DNF'ed

Lastly, as I mentioned above, I'm nursing a bad case of plantar fasciitis, which has had me down since after Beast of Burden.  It's getting much better, though, and I'm getting physical therapy for it.  I've been able to pick up my speed a bit this past week, so I'm optimistic about bouncing back.  The only down side is that I have to keep up my pedicure, and my nails are a tad scruffy from a winter in shoes.