Lord I’m coming home to you

I got back to Guelph on Monday evening and went for a run on Tuesday morning. It was -12C out, sunny and calm and I didn’t mind the conditions at all.  The next morning it was -18C but was windy so it felt as thought it was -27C.  Gillis and I ran out 10 km and then turned around, into the wind on the way back.  The snow was blowing fiercely off the fields right into our faces.

Early Thursday morning I went to the ATM, and although it was cold it was sunny and seemed calm. By the time Mason, Vollmer, Gillis and I started our warm-up around 9am it was like a blizzard. My feet were frozen and the footing was getting crappy. After 1km we turned around and headed to the YMCA for the treadmills.   I looked at the weather forecast and didn’t think it looked conducive for some big sessions and lots of km so I booked a flight to Atlanta to train in Auburn, AL.

Friday morning it was -25C and I went directly for the treadmills at the YMCA.

On Sunday I was running in 20C on trails. Pretty happy about that!

Today I did a 75 minute ‘tempo’ and went to a dirt road I used to run here many years ago. I forgot how hilly it was, which made for a tough workout with erratic pacing. But with temps hovering around 6C I’ll take the hills over -12C.  My average pace was about 10 seconds per kilometre slower than what I would have wanted on a flat route.  Given the terrain I’m happy with how the session went.

10 more days here and then I’m off to New York and racing the NYC Half marathon on March 16th.  That will be one month out from the London Marathon.

NYC Half marathon elite start list:

Last, First, Nat, Twitter, HM PB
Barrios, Juan Luis, MEX, 1:01:48 (Great North Run, 2008)
Burrell, Ian, USA, @juanlbarrios, 1:02:51 (Duluth, 2012)
Chelimo, Kevin, KEN, 1:01:21 (NYC Half, 2012)
Coolsaet, Reid, CAN, @ReidCoolsaet, 1:02:42 (NYC Half, 2011)
Gabius, Arne, GER, Debut (5000m PB 13:12.50)
Eggleston, Jeffrey, USA, @jde66leston, 1:03:41 (Boston, 2013)
Farah, Mo, GBR, @Mo_Farah, 1:00:10 (South Shields, 2013)
Gillis, Eric, CAN, @EricGillis42_2k, 1:03:34 (Virginia Beach, 2011)
Gotcher, Brett, USA, 1:02:09 (Houston, 2009)
Hartmann, Jason, USA, @JasonRHartmann, 1:01:51 (NYC Half, 2013)
Ichida, Takashi , JPN, 1:02:36 (Ageo, 2013)
Keflezighi, Meb, USA, @runmeb, 1:01:00 (San Jose, 2009)
Korir, Wesley, KEN, @weskorir, 1:01:19 (NYC Half, 2012)
Mutai, Geoffrey, KEN, 58:58 (Ras Al Khaimah, 2013)
Puskedra, Luke, USA, @LukePuskedra, 1:01:36 (Houston, 2012)
Riley, Jake, USA, 28:08.26 10,000m (Olympic Trials, 2012)
Sambu, Stephen, KEN, @sksambu, 1:00:41 (Boston, 2013)
Tegenkamp, Matt, USA, @MattTegenkamp, Debut (58:30 20-K, New Haven, 2012)
Yufu, Ikuto, JPN, 1:02:51 (Ageo, 2013)

Per usual I’m staying with my great aunt Lorna, AKA Nornee while I’m down here. It’s not easy to film her anymore because she realizes my phone has a camera, but sometimes I still catch some gold…