week nine.

March arrived on Monday prematurely lamb-ish but, by the weekend, was roaring appropriately like a lion.  I loved the warm, sunshine-y days and I really loved Sunday on which the floodgates apparently decided to break open and dump inch after inch of rain on the Horseshoe Trail.

I didn't get back to the frequency of runs that I was managing ahead of Piper's bout with the flu (she's all better!), but I'm super stoked on logging 3 separate hour+ runs.  The first of those, a road run, at 10.5 miles in brand new shoes at 7:30 pace was a pleasant and unexpected surprise on the heels of the Ugly Mudder two days before.  Saturday and Sunday were much slower affairs, but, with a focus on climbing and remaining locked in at a manageable pace (not too fast, not too slow) throughout, they were much closer to being my ideal training efforts than many recent runs.

I had hoped to run the Buzzards Marathon on the Appalachian Trail/Horseshoe Trail in Dauphin County on Sunday, but Lindsay ended up scheduled to work second shift and an 8:00 start time was going to have me pushing my luck, especially once the weather report turned out to be on the money with its call for monsoon-like conditions.  The trade off is that my first "goal race" of the year went off (I think) without me. 

Still, all in all, it was a week of good stuff.  Good stuff that looked like this:

Wednesday, March 2 - First time out in the New Balance Road Minimus - I was prepared to do 4 or fewer miles if they didn't play nice, but ended up having one of the best 10+ mile runs of my life.

Friday, March 4 - Morning run to work.  Legs still feeling pretty fresh.

Friday, March 4 - Run home from work at nearly identical pace to that morning's run.

Saturday, March 6 - Tentative first run in the NB Trail Minimus up over Eagle Rock to Camp Mack and back on the Horseshoe Trail.  The shoes felt great underfoot, but I did manage a minor heel blister.  Need to adjust to the streamlined fit and should be good.  Stay tuned.

Sunday, March 6 - Long, methodical run on the Horseshoe Trail, the first half with Jefferson and the second half solo.  Pounded by the arrival of a rainstorm that would end up dumping an inch-and-half of rain over the course of the day.