What is that I see?

Is that...sunshine?! And temps above bitterly freezing cold?! I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I'm not complaining!

Apparently, Mother Nature heard all of the complaints from me and my fellow Ohioans re: how sick we were of super cold weather and ice/snow, and had decided to bestow upon us a lovely week of nonsubzero temperatures. What does this mean? It means the kids can get out of the house and play a little bit, and that parents don't have to feel homebound by the weather. It means the snow is finally going to melt, and we'll see grass again. It's brown grass, but its grass. It means there is currently a small pond in my backyard, which will only grow as more snow melts and provide endless amusement for the Terrible Twosome. Joy. But best of all, it means I can go on a run without slipping on the snow/ice and having to bundle myself up within an inch of my life! Thursday, I might even get to wear shorts! SHORTS! Insanity, I tells ya.

Half marathon training is going well so far. Random aches and pains, but nothing persistent. I'm trying to be a very good girl about sticking to my training plan and getting the appropriate mileage in each week, and have actually been good about doing my speedwork too. This week's workouts looked like this:

Monday: 3 miles easy
Tuesday: 3 miles easy, plus some elliptical
Weds: 1 mile warm up, 3 miles at approx 8:15 pace with 2-3 min standing rest between each mile, 1 mile cooldown.
Thurs: 4 miles easy, plus some elliptical
Fri: Off
Sat: 7 mile long run
Sunday: 6o mins mixed cardio (20 mins each on two different elliptical type machines, plus 20 min on the Arc trainer).

THIS is the kind of schedule I need to be more consistent with. I find it far too easy to take days off early on in the week. Hell, it took half an hour of inner monologue with myself to get off the couch and put on gym clothes today, then another fifteen minutes to get me out the door. This week, I was motivated by the fact that my husband had a nasty case of the flu. Because, you see, I wanted to be as far away from his germs for as long as I could. The poor guy had the cough, the congestion, the fever, the body aches, and the stomach upset (both kinds)...and I wanted nothing to do with it. It didn't help that his grandpa passed away last Saturday so we had the funeral on Weds-meaning, lots of people who wanted to hug him or shake his hand, and lots of people he had to tell "Uhhhh, you don't want to touch me right now." We even skipped the family lunch after the service so he wouldn't overdo it-we picked up lunch at Panera and took it home instead.

So apparently, nothing motivates me to go to the gym quite like a flu-ridden spouse. Thankfully, he's feeling much better and I have shown no symptoms at all...very possibly due to my work-required flu shot. Either way, I'm not complaining.

Hopefully, this time next week, I'll be able to add "bike ride" to my record of what exercise I did this week. Because maybe, just maybe, I can get in a ride on my new used bike next weekend...once I pick up some bike grease. And a helmet. And probably new pedals too. Cross your fingers!

Warmer weather, here I come!