"I'm probably warmer than the lifeguard..."

Had a GREAT run...the first on the trail with the larger T3 group in 2 weeks. Gosh, I knew that I missed that ritual but I didn't know how much until I got back out there again. Felt awesome. Jess, Blythe, Jim, Laura, and I headed out for the first 7-mile loop...and caught Liz on the backside she was running a but late and decided to go in the reverse direction to meet us. Everything felt really good...no aches, no pains...cold and windy but everyone was in good spirits. Laura had already run 7 miles when she met up with us so she and I tackled the 4-mile loop together. I was limited to 11 miles today...good thing I'd already told everyone this since I felt so good after 7 that I would have been tempted to give the whole 18 a go?! Laura and I split off half-way through the 4-mile loop and so I pushed myself to finish strong. Felt great through the whole thing and held on to a good average...especially for my first long run in a long time.
Stretched a little and then boldly said to Booher that I was going to finish my run by aqua jogging over at Deep Eddy. I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy as he said, "Don't freeze!" No joke. Back in my car the pep talks began. Funny, on part of our run we'd just talked about whether or not you can have a conversation with yourself. We decided you could. So here's the conversation that I had with myself over the next hour or so:
"Are you really going to do this...it is cold!"
"Come on...you'll warm-up or you'll warm-up after you finish. You've been cold before. Toughen up."
And that got me to the Deep Eddy parking lot where a gust of wind practically opened my car door for me when I went to get out of the car...a welcome to the pool?! So as I unloaded my gear, the conversation began again:
"It's really windy...and you don't have your wetsuit...you don't really have to do this. You could grab your goggles and swim cap and just swim!"
"If you aqua jog fast enough and you get your heart rate high enough, you'll warm up. Plus it's sunny so you just need to find a sunny place in the pool and camp out there for an hour. But doing another swim is not what you need...you need to finish your run. Only an hour. You did 2h20min last weekend, this will feel like nothing."
And that got me to the changing room, out of my running clothes, into my bathing suit and sweats and headed down to the pool. But at the top of the stairs as I watched small whitecaps form on the surface of the pool I heard the voices start up again:
"You could just turn around now, go to Whole Foods and get your coffee and your breakfast taco and let the 11 miles be enough today. It is only February!"
"Just start down the stairs...once you get to the pool's edge you'll be fine. You're always fine once you get wherever you are going."
So down the stairs...to the side of the pool...off with the sweatshirt...off with the sweat pants...on with the aqua jogging belt...to the edge of the pool and into the pool go the feet:
"Holy moly...this is REALLY cold. Like pull your feet back out cold. Are you sure you can't catch pneumonia doing this?"
"Please...as a little girl you used to jump in the water at Bailey's Island, ME to swim with Mor-Mor and that water was REALLY cold, too, and you thought it was fun. Don't be a grown-up about this, be a little kid again, and jump in!"
At that point, I decided that the ladder was my better bet so I headed over there and with some bizarre confidence I headed right down it and started doing high knees with such gusto that I was afraid my knees were going to come up and smack the top of the water! A few "warm-up" laps, 1 set of drills, and a "sprint" and 15 or 20 minutes had passed.
"So, what are you going to do now? You still have goosebumps!"
"I think if I do another set I'll warm up...besides, I'm probably warmer than the lifeguard who has to sit still. At least I'm moving."
Set #2 led into set #3 and finally an hour was up. I watched numerous people come and go throughout that hour - including the guy who sat on the side of the pool for nearly 15 minutes before getting in. I wanted to give him some unsolicited advice, "Umm...the pool is not getting any warmer while you sit there and you think that you are getting warmer b/c you're soaking up some sun, but the wind is so biting that you're really not. Just get in!" But I didn't say a word, just kept to my aqua-jogging, pep-talking self.
Getting out was no easier than getting in except that I knew I had a towel and dry clothes waiting for me...and a breakfast taco and coffee around the bend! Pleasant surprise to run into Blythe, Liz, Amy, and Jim at WF so I got to eat breakfast with them...yeah. And Amy did the whole 18 miles even though she didn't have to...and she ran with the little running group that I love and that she always thinks she's too slow for. I'm SO proud of her!!!
Quick trip home to get clean and then I picked up Logan so that he, Catharine, Karen and I could go out to deliver some flowers and cookies (Tiff's Treats...which we managed to not dig into on our way out there!) to the woman who helped him last weekend, Debbie. She was napping when we arrived so we handed the goods over to her husband (I'm pretty sure he thought we were a little crazy but, really, who wouldn't find a way to thank someone who'd extended such kindness to perfect strangers?!) and made our way back to town. Swung by J&A's with Logan to get his bike and take it to the PTC so he can give riding on the trainer a whirl tomorrow. What a trooper he is...seriously, he's like a different person from last Saturday when he had his accident. Way to go, Logan, for doing PT, listening to the docs, and letting people help with silly little things so that you can get stronger! Fingers crossed for continued recovery!
Phew...a full day. A good day. Yes, a good day of living fully. Living strong like I quoted yesterday. 80 miles on the bike tomorrow and then heading to the airport for a college bonanza on Monday and Tuesday (4 schools...2 days...1 crazy schedule - but when I get there I'll be fine!) On that note...off to gather gear for my ride (it's going to be COLD again, but hopefully not as windy as today...and certainly not as windy or cold as the last time we rode Parmer!!!) I've never done 80 miles so it should be a fun adventure!