This morning was a cold one, but had to be done. I've found myself having one heck of a busy week, and am still flirting with the idea of starting to train for the Vancouver Marathon. My buddy Chris is running a marathon in early May (Grandmother's Marathon in Minnesota or something?) and he sent me the link for Hal Higdon's Intermediate Training Schedule. I looked at that over the weekend and realized it's an 18 week course. If my calculations are correct I've got a bit over 12 weeks before the Vancouver Marathon (3 months x 4 weeks = 12).

Nevertheless, I also know how much better I feel after I run and I wanted to feel good and rejuvenated today. So, the alarm went off at 6:20 (I made it to bed before midnight) and the weather said 21 degrees Fahrenheit and 12 degrees with the windchill. So, I put on all of the clothes I normally run with and then added a pair of sweat pants and a China-special North Face Summit Series layer (bought a mock version while in China a few years go, so it's probably not an actual North Face) and headed out.

Surprisingly, I actually was pretty warm. I moved at about an 8 minute mile pace (the actual run was just under 6 miles and took about 48 minutes) though my leges felt quite tired. I always tell myself it's okay to go easy (but I think 8 minute miles are easy). I have the track workout tomorrow night so I wanted to save something for my legs. Nevertheless, the run was what it was, and even though I'm feeling a bit tired (7-8 hours of sleep would have been much nicer) I am feeling good about the day and ready to go conquer it. That's why I really like running. On top of that, no matter how painful it is to get out of the house that early when it's that cold, it's always nice to see dawn break. That's truly worth it in and of itself.