I'm cold!

This last weekend on my long run I realized that I've never really done serious running outside in the winter.  Last year I had just finished my marathon and cut way, way back on running, literally going from over 100 miles in September and October to 36 in November and 47 in December.  I ran 78 in January, but my long runs were 6 and 5 miles, with one 7 mile run at the end of the month.  The year before that I was dealing with plantar faciitis, running 4 miles in November, 30 in December, with most of those on the treadmill, and 40 in January.  In fact, that winter was the first time I ever ran in the dark.  I bought my treadmill specifically for the winter months, before 2 years ago, the majority of my winter/dark runs were done on the treadmill.  In December of 2013 I ran 80 miles and 100 in January, but I had a different job, and got off work at 4 or a little earlier, and only had a 5 min commute, so I was able to get a run in after work while it was still light outside.  I guess that could be argued that 2013/2014 winter was "serious" running in the winter, after all, I ran a lot. 

So maybe it's not that I have never done serious running in the winter, but that it's been 3 years since I did and I'm not used to it.  In my defense, though, it is true that I haven't run outside in the dark in the winter until this year, or at least not a ton.  It's cold outside!!  I need a waterproof jacket, I'm hoping I'll get one for Christmas.  I realize that my cold is actually pretty warm compared to the majority of people's cold, 30-40 degrees is far from freezing my butt off, but still, everyone is acclimated to their own climate.  (ha!)

I'll tell you one thing, I much prefer long runs in the summer months than the winter months.  (Again, the whole climate thing, my summers are not nearly as warm as most.) 

Anyway, this weekend I slacked off quite a bit on running.  I ran 8 miles on Saturday instead of 10, and none on Sunday.  I didn't want to run on Saturday, and it had snowed on Friday and even though it was gone, it was still cold.  Plus, I haven't gotten any energy gummies in forever, and generally  anything over 8 miles I need them.  Although, I did 9 miles a week ago and was okay.  I figured 8 miles was a compromise, and I'm okay with it.

Sunday I just didn't get going early enough.  We do our grocery shopping Sunday morning and then we went to Lynnwood, an hour away, to go get Christmas ornaments.  I had started a tradition with Damian when it was just him and I where I would get him an ornament of his choosing every year.  This was when I lived in Lynnwood, so going to the cool ornament store was easy, now it's a hassle and I hate it more every year.  But, it's tradition, so we went.