January Freeze

January 24th already. I was going to start this new blog on January 1st, but that didn’t happen. Obviously. It’s hard to find time. The time to do much of anything. Working for a living consumes a lot of time, but what am I going to do? Not working is not an option.

So far for January I have run in three 10K races and turned 48. Turning 48 was no big deal. I feel good, health-wise, and haven’t gained a pound since September of 2012. I also haven’t lost a pound. I was hoping to be five pounds lighter by now. Maybe when winter ends, if it ever ends, I’ll be able to get out and run more. One of the bad things about living in upstate NY is that winter drags on forever.

I never imagined I’d be running in January. Running outside. The local running club holds a series of 10K races called the January Freeze. There’s a race every Saturday. A year ago, when I was just starting to think about running, I remember looking at photos of people running the January Freeze, thinking they must be insane. Well, now there are photos of me running the January Freeze and it is insane. But also fun and exhilarating. A year ago, I had just bought a treadmill and was determined to get back in shape and do some serious running. Getting back in shape took a little longer than expected, but in May, I ran my first 5K race and did good. Good for someone who had never run a 5K race before. This May I will be running a half marathon. That’s 13.1 miles. I am nowhere near ready. The farthest I have ever run is 7.2 miles. I have a lot of training to do.

Tomorrow is the final 10K January Freeze run. It is supposed to be cold. Maybe 10 degrees if I’m lucky. And the park where it’s held is often windy. For last week’s race it was 30 degrees and windy and I thought that was cold. My fastest time so far has been 55:53. I’d really like to beat that, but it’s hard to run when sweating and shivering and fighting the wind. Just finishing will be good.

The nice thing about running is that the only person I’m running against is myself. In a race, I’m running with other people, but I don’t see them as competition. They are just people running, like me, for whatever reason. Lose weight, reduce stress, get healthy, break a personal record. I have run in enough races now that I recognize many of the runners and it feels good to pass them and beat them at the finish line, but that’s not what it’s all about.

It’s just about running.

Stats:
Freeze 1 (10K (6.2 miles)), time 58:09, pace 9:22
Freeze 2 (10K (6.2 miles)) time 55:53, pace 9:00
Freeze 3 (10K (6.2 miles)) time 56:33, pace 9:07