I totally could have locked myself in the shower and stayed in there all night.  It’s too bad that our hot water dissipates just after 10 minutes, so my dream of a night filled with hot, scalding water was out of the question.  I guess I am probably better off because my husband wouldn’t have been too pleased with the water bill.

Yeah, I do live in Florida.  And yes, it is supposed to be the “oo la la” vacation spot for the weary traveler attempting to escape the throes of a bitter winter.  Sorry pal, you don’t want to come here right now… try further south (much further because I hear that Miami isn’t doing so hot either).  I laughed to myself as I stood out in the freezing air (yes, the thermostat on my car said that it was actually below freezing) and thought back to the Runner’s World article I had previously read.  Oh, it so valiantly discussed the type of running gear you might need in highlighted areas of the U.S.  I looked at the picture of the woman who was modeling running clothes for the “southeast” portion of the states (for those who are geographically illiterate:  this area includes Florida).  What was she wearing?  Oh, a sexy pair of capri running pants (for those of you who are fashion illiterate:  capris don’t cover the entire leg) and one thin long sleeve shirt.  I don’t recall seeing a hat or gloves on this woman.  The little note stated that this area experiences temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s during the winter months.  Ha Ha… so not funny to be standing out in the chilly 20’s.  Oh, and let’s not forget the wind chill folks.  Lets just say that there is more wind on the top of those bridges and my face will not forget it.

I don’t know if I should have been relieved or not when our running coach told us about our route for the night.  It involved a mad dash up and down a bridge, turn around and dash back up to the top, then come back down and go to the next bridge, make a mad dash up and over, turn around and come back up and then come back down.  Oh, and then do it ALL over again.  And when I say “mad dash” I mean “mad dash.”  We basically were instructed to sprint up the hills like we were being chased by a crazy person with a knife.  The only relief was the fact that the blood was flowing and the extremities were getting some warmth from the blistering wind.  Going up the long bridge seemed like an eternity even though I was pushing my body to the max limit.  Seriously, I thought that I could have passed out at any given moment and thoughts of a puking session were in my mind.  It’s that darn buddy again.  I feel the need to keep up no matter what the cost.  I even try hard to smoke her, but that doesn’t seem to happen because she doesn’t give up either.  🙂

Yep, I survived the cold and hilly conditions and am quite pleased (but only after the fact).  Now I can’t wait to sort of run a marathon this weekend.  Well, you see, we signed up for a marathon, but are calling it a “training run.”  We have to run 20 miles per our training schedule so we just decided to add on a 6.2 mile walk.  Not sure if we are smart or stupid.  I will let you know…