On Saturday morning, February 11, a virtual run was held in memory of Sherry Arnold, the Montana wife, mom, and teacher who in January was abducted and killed just a short distance from her home on an early morning run. Though her killer has been caught and has confessed, her body has yet to be located. Women runners around the country feel so acutely the pain and anguish of her family, and the outrage that a woman is not safe to go outside and revel in God's creation on a morning run.
My running group participated, as we all put on the memorial bibs and headed out at 7:25 AM on an arctic cold 10 degree, snowy morning...thankful to have a group to run with and stay safe.
It was one of those beautiful Colorado mornings with a blanket of snow, and air so cold it forms glittery crystals. But it was COLD. Once again I ran with a frozen water bottle!
I was blessed to run with two women who run a very similar pace to mine, and also have a little more marathon experience than I do. I was planning a 15 mile run, but the ice and cold slowed our pace enough that I ended up running just shy of 17 miles. We ran about 5 miles to Cherry Creek State Park, then ran through the snow covered park. A highlight was the small herd of deer running across our path, looking so graceful compared to how our cold and cramping legs felt!
During the last 4 or so miles we realized it was warming up, enough so we took our gloves off as we continued on. The sun had broken through, and the biting wind calmed. After arriving back to our cars I had to laugh when my thermometer read a balmy 19 degrees at that point...what a warm up!
It was grueling and wonderful all at the same time, in a way that only long distance runners can understand.
And still, I am not quite sure how my mountainous high altitude arctic training will relate to my sunny sea level San Diego Marathon on June 3, but runs like yesterday assure me I can do it.
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