Diary of a Wimpy Winter Runner

Training

I have two runners inside of me. That sounds creepy. But let me explain, there is Summer Sarah and Winter Sarah. One is a lot more fun and inspiring than the other...

Summer Sarah
Beeep! 5:03am my alarm goes off. I’m out of bed! I pull the running clothes on that I’ve left outside the bathroom, slurp down and PowerBar Gel and some water I’m and on the road by 5:15.am. I finish up 8 miles before 6:30am, make a smoothie and head to work.

Winter Sarah
Beeeep! 5:03am the alarm goes off. I turn it off and roll over. I sleep until 6:00am when my fiancé gets up. I hear the shower turn on. I lay there.  I think about how warm I am. How I don’t really need to run today. Or maybe I’ll do it after work. I bargain with myself. If I sleep until 7am I’ll run 8 miles after work. Then I realize that won’t happen. Then I bribe myself with things, warm shower, Starbucks… then I check the weather on my phone about 3 times. Then around 6:22am I drag myself out of bed. 

I shiver through the first mile, then without fail I warm up, wake up and start loving the run. I wonder why I was such a wimpy baby. I tell myself to remember this for tomorrow. That’ll get me out of bed for sure…

Next day, Beeeep! 5:03am the alarm goes off….same story….6:22am I’m out the door.

Winter running is not my gig. I love it about a mile in, but it’s hard to kick my butt out the door. Really hard. And I’ll say it, sometimes it doesn’t happen. But 99.9% I get it done, with the same stutter start because I know I’ll be happy I did and I know there is hot coffee waiting at the end.

 Do you have trouble keeping your training up in the winter? What do you do to keep the love alive in the winter?

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— sarah
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