How's the weather where you are?

“Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” - Oscar Wilde

98% of the time I rely on other people for my weather forecasts.  At least twice a day at work the weather comes up in conversation (it's a very imaginative workplace)--that's one source.  The other source is usually my mother.  If there's a snowstorm in PA she will call to ask me how much snow I got in Boston.  I'm still trying to explain to her that the weather isn't the same at any given moment everywhere in the world, and while it's cold and snowy in PA it's quite possible that it's warm and sunny in MA.  I know I'll regret the day that she understands jet streams because her PA weather updates are a pretty good predictor of what's to come (a day or two later in MA).  While I'm at it, I might as well take another shot at my wonderful mother...Dad is a Penn State fan (inside joke that only my mom and sister will find funny.  Sorry for excluding everyone else, but those two account for the majority of the page views on this blog so this was a calculated decision).

I digress.  The reason I bring up meteorology is because this weekend fell in the 2% category.  It was cold, and I needed to decide when to run 12 miles.  The current conditions in PA weren't going to help so instead of calling my mom, I resorted to weather.com.  The forecast suggested that Saturday would present the most favorable conditions, but I wasn't very motivated Saturday so I waited until yesterday.  It was 20˚F when I started running yesterday, and14mph winds put the windchill in the single digits, but after a few minutes of running I didn't even notice the cold.

Until yesterday, 9 miles was the farthest I've run.  I wasn't sure how I'd fare on a 12 mile run in frigid temperatures, but I broke down my run into segments to make it more manageable (mentally).  After 3 miles I was 1/4 of the way done, after 4 miles I was 1/3, etc.  Before I knew it I completed the 12 miles and was back home in time for the NFC Championship game as planned.  All-in-all I'd say it went well, but in the spirit of intervals and fractions, I realized something that was quite disappointing--after nearly 2 hours and 12 miles I wasn't even halfway to my end goal.  According to my 18-week training program, I'm right on track, but it is a little disheartening to realize just how far (12 weeks and 14.2 miles) I have left to go.