Snow Day Half Marathon

We got our last snow day today... even though there was not an actual snow flake anywhere to be found.  Actually that's not true, I had about 16 flakes on my car and maybe enough to make a golf ball sized snow ball on the deck... but the predictions were dire the night before and I guess that's all it took.  I'm not complaining... I don't mind one more day off.  I've had a To Do list that's been being ignored for days and days and I got a majority of it all taken care of.

I also went to the gym and Erged and freaking Half Marathon!!! Yes I did!!  21, 097 meters!!

One of my friends put on FaceBook that he'd rowed a half and I decided to meet his challenge and see if I could do it too and I did!  It's funny though is was just like the 2 Half's I ran.  I was good until about the mile 10 point and then the last 5K was pretty wretched.  I started out pretty strong, had some rocking tunes going, actually rowed 90% of it with my eyes closed just listening to the music and trying to feel my body and technique.  It went well, I was keeping it right where I wanted to be and feeling pretty good, but then the last 5K, my back started to cramp up, I had to slow down a couple of times, go to arms and back for a little bit.  But, then by the last 1500meters I was able to pick back up and finish strong.   So, now I've run 2 race Half's,  1 treadmill half, I've rowed an on the water Half and now erged a half.  I think I've pretty much covered all my bases.  

What the hell Mother Nature....

4 snow days and 3 2-hour delays later, we are all pretty shell shocked.

We are not used to this shit.  Seriously 3 degrees!!  That doesn't take into account the wind chill.  We've had lots of wind, temps at -17 with the wind.  Yuck!

The best way to spend the snow/cold day!  Even the Naked Gnome (courtesy of Gp Bud) needed to come in and warm up!

A snow day WITH snow…finally

We're going on our 2nd snow day with actual snow this time.  We've had at least 5 "snow days" this year so far, but they have actually been ice days, rain days, a couple "too cold" days and one day with less than a 1/2 an inch of snow.  But this time… they seem to have gotten in right.  We got about 12-14 inches of snow on Thursday - we were off Thurs and Friday.  Monday is a holiday - so we're enjoying a 5 day weekend.  I've been slowly but surely working my way through my To Do list.  All those things I've been putting off, because I've been so busy with work, crew etc…

We did a little Cul-de-sac shovel party.  That always makes things more fun - if we're all out there together!  We got the whole cul-de-sac and even the road shoveled.  Mike had his tractor out and we all went to town.  He may only get to use that darn tractor once or twice every couple of years, but we sure are thankful for it when he does.

 

Even the boy got out there and did some work.  He's virtually impossible to get out of his room and off the computer, but once you do, he's a damn hard worker.  I'll give him that.  Wouldn't it be nice though if they'd just jump up and "Oh yes, I want to help.  Shoveling will be a fun family bonding adventure." That's what it would be like in Julie's LaLa Land! If I had my way :o)

The dogs got into it after a bit of hesitation.  Of course they wouldn't go out and go pee, until we all went out to shovel.  I don't understand how they can hold their pee for so long!  They romped around for quite a bit.  Zoey looked like a little cow gazelle.  The snow came up past her belly so she had to leap and bound everywhere. It was pretty humorous.

The snow banks made perfect beer coolers for the guys.  They were silly, like little kids, mainly I think because they felt a little naughty drinking beer at 1030 in the morning!  But they worked hard and they deserved it.  I certainly did not feel guilty eating the chocolate chip muffin I hid in the pantry when I finished!!

Snow Day, Snow Run!

We've had 2 snow days this week.  We've only actually had about 4 inches of snow, but the temperatures have been way, way low!  Our high today was 14 degrees!  I think they are worried about all our preshus babies walking to school and that's why they cancel it.  I do sort of agree, since most of Zack's friends are still wearing shorts to school and on the really cold days they might agree to putting on a hoodie.   Zack's almost as bad, but at least he wears pants!  Anyway, yesterday before the "Storm of the Century" hit (the one that dropped FOUR INCHES on us) John and I decided to head out for a run together!
It hadn't started snowing too hard and we were only going 3 miles… so even though I wanted nothing more than to sit in front of the fire in my jammies with my book… John convinced me to head out.

It didn't turn out to be the quiet, beautiful peaceful run that I had been imagining.  I didn't even take my music as I planned to enjoy the scenery and become "one with nature."  :o)  It really turned out to be a cold, wet slog with ice crystals crashing into my eyes and making me squint and wonder what the hell I was doing!  I got a cramp about 1/2 mile in and really was just happy to finish!

Finally made it… in my jammies, in front of the fire with my boy Cooper.