BACON RUN

DATE: 1/19/16

TIME: 8:30AM

TEMP: 14℉

'FEELS LIKE' TEMP: 1℉

WIND: 20MPH (w/ 30mph gusts)

WORKOUT: 22 miles

HILLS: LOTS

ICE: EVEN MORE

SIDEWALKS: NONE

ANGRY DRIVERS: Avg rate of 3/mile

HONKS from ANGRY DRIVERS: 4

FROZEN (DEAD) SQUIRRELS: 1

NUMBER OF TIMES I USED THE 'F' WORD: at least 30 (probably more)

BRUSHES W/ DEATH: 1 (almost run off the road by an angry driver)

FROSTBITE: Highly probable

So, today I ran for BACON.  Well, actually, I ran because I'm training for the LA Marathon in February.  But, after stepping outside to walk the dog this morning and feeling the temp (painfully frigid) along with the wind (beyond brutal), I decided that I would be running all 22 miles specifically for the Baconator of the Week (BAW) Award.  What's that you ask?  The BAW is a prestigious award given out by friend and fellow LOOPSTER, Dave Schultz, to the runner who heads out to battle the worst winter conditions imaginable and makes it through to tell their story.  Well, damned if I didn't make it through.  It was touch and go.  And it wasn't pretty.  But, it's done.  And that is all that matters.  Quick play by play for you.  I started out at 8:30am on my own.  The shock of the first few steps was like nothing I've experienced in quite some time.  My face stung.  I couldn't feel my ass.  And my legs were on autopilot.  Typically I run my first mile at an easy 9 mile pace to warm up.  Today, I clocked my first mile at 7:55.  Not because I was going for speed.  Oh no.  I was so GD cold that I had to move faster simply to function.  Yes, it was that bad.  At one point I ran by a dead, frozen squirrel and I heard myself saying (out loud), "Tough break, buddy.  But, trust me, you're better off."  This made me wonder if I am certifiably nuts.  Don't answer that.  After about 6 miles, I stopped at my friend Kirsten's house to grab her for the next 15 miles or so.  She's training for a May marathon, so she's currently my running partner in crime.  THANK THE LORD.  When she saw my face, she asked me if everything was ok.  I just nodded and told her we should go before I thawed and had second thoughts.  So, off we went.  The sidewalks are really bad here in Winchester, so we had to run single file on the road for most of our journey.  As you can see from my stats above, we had a very high rate of angry drivers per mile.  They just don't like sharing the road with us.  Next time I might put a sign on my chest that says "I would rather be on the sidewalk".  But, I digress.  We chugged along at a steady clip, fighting the wind like nobody's business, often feeling like we were running in place which must have looked hilarious.  We also had a nice long stretch where the road was both icy AND sandy and the wind blew both steadily into our faces.  That was awesome.  After cluing her in on the BAW and my goal of winning it, she began to chime in every time we braved an element that would get us more points.  We both agreed that the aforementioned stretch should count for double points.  Of course, Dave will have to make the final call on that. Around mile 11, unbeknownst to us, my watch died.   Broken?  Frozen?  Who knows.  But, the next time we looked we had no idea how far we'd gone since our last checkpoint.  We almost cried.  I swore a lot.  We put our heads together and landed on a number of miles that we felt good about and kept going.  As we neared the end (miles 18, 19, 20), I stopped talking all together.  Kirsten could tell I was struggling and coached me in to the finish, giving me several much needed pep talks.  As we rounded the corner on mile 21 (15 for her), I told her that I probably would have died without her.  "Me, too." she responded.  And we laughed, because it was kind of true...."dying" being a relative term in running.  

1 mile to go.  Yay.

Kirsten took a quick photo before I left...for BAW proof.  Yes, I was as miserable as I look.  I said goodbye and headed home.  I live exactly one mile from her.  And here's the best part...to get from my house to hers is a straight shot on BACON STREET.  No joke.  BAW aside, we have called ourselves TEAM BACON since we started running together 6 years ago.  How crazy is that??  Seriously, if I win this award, I will be sharing it with Kirsten as she deserves it as much as I do.  And if we don't win, it's all good.  This run was a huge feather in my cap.  And it will only make me stronger.  Get ready LA.  I'm coming.  But first....coffee.  Mmmmmm.

BEST. COFFEE. EVER.

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CONQUEROR - AURORA