A glimpse of Summer, new shoes and another smack in the face of winter

Ok the glimpse of summer - was in Cincinnati for work on Thursday and Friday. I was able to meet up with a friend of mine who lives there for a nice 6 mile run and a fun dinner out. Did I mention I was wearing shorts? shorts! it was beautiful out - shorts and a long sleeve t. that's it. no gloves, no tights, no hats -- I felt like I was running naked - it was wonderful. it was the perfect run - put me in a good mood for days. Well until Saturday that is.

That's when the smack of winter part comes in. Saturday was one of those snowy days when I just did not want to leave the house - or the couch for that matter. Well I promised myself I would sleep in on Saturday - so I did. Then spent the day cleaning the house for the in laws who were coming over for dinner that night. Still no desire to run. I put my brand new running shoes on display in the middle of the dining room table as motiviation - still no desire to run.

So... finally 3 o'clock rolls around. The inlaws are coming at 6. - so if i'm going to do a 12-15 mile run I better get my butt out the door. Steve didn't have to push me this time - i knew I had to go - but I didn't want to. .. I was so angry with the fact that it was cold and too snowy to run on the sidewalks. Well I get outside and my garmin is not working. It won't turn off it won't reset and it won't find a signal. Great. Now i have to run 12-15 miles in circles around the neighborhood and I'll have no idea how far I've gone. So that made me even crabbier.
I started off doing what Elizabeth refers to as a "comb" run on the streets behind my house - since that would not require running through any snow -and I figured I would run for 2 hrs since it was 3:30 by the time I actually got out the door. I went up and down the one street twice and I got even angrier - and decided to explore for awhile. Long story short I was able to get a little further from home b/c some cities actually plow their sidewalks - unlike the fine city I live in. Well it seemed like forever before an hour went by - and I some how managed to run for 1 hr and 54 minutes. I did not have the heart to back track for 6 more minutes. Sometimes when you don't want to go out there - you need to push yourself - other times you should listen and just stay in. I felt like I was running through a wet paper bag that entire time. I can't remember ever enjoying a run so little. I think it's just a sign that I'm done with winter. I quit winter.
But on the positive side - the neighborhoods I ran in are really hilly - so I got some great hill work in... especially the last three miles uphill home. I got home and mapped out what i had run. 13 miles - that's about an 8:45 pace. So good to know - that although the run felt horrible - it was still a good run - and worth getting out there after all.

Now - next week is my 20 miler. Any one know where I can run 20 miles on Saturday at an 8:30- 8:45 pace - not by myself? (We're celebrating steve's b-day on saturday night - so i'm not going to be stupid and try to plan the 20 miler on sunday!) Thinking about running the "just a short race 30k" that monica is running - but just don't know if i can get moving that early to drive that far...