Hilly and Chilly

As I am writing this entry, it's a beautiful, warm day for this time of the year.  It's a balmy 55 degrees and the sun is shining brightly.  However, this morning when I met some of my CCR buddies for our long run, it was a cold 31 degrees.

All the CCR locations were having a joint run at the Baltimore store.  I didn't want to drive into the city since I had so much to get done today.  Both of the little ones had birthday parties at noon and I hadn't gotten gifts for the birthday kids yet.  So when Glenda asked if anyone wanted to run in Howard County, I jumped at the chance.

It was a struggle to get up this morning.  I was tired and didn't sleep well...plus my bed was SOOO comfortable.  I can honestly say that if I wasn't meeting a group of people, I probably would not have gotten up to run.  After making my protein shake and getting my cold weather gear on, I hopped in the car and drove to Centennial Lake.

I met Glenda, Heather and Erin M. at Centennial.  I had picked that location because it was the closest to my house.  So we discussed the various routes we could take from the lake.  The group decided on a route that I had never run before.

My knee was doing OK overall, however the route was very hilly.  By the big, long hill up Centennial Lane, I was in need of a short walk break.  Luckily Erin was willing to walk a bit with me.  Heather and Glenda ran ahead of us.  I enjoyed today's run.  Erin had just completed the Goofy Challenge, which is a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday.  So she chattered on about the race for most of the run.  I was so thankful for this, because I was really struggling with my knee and it was better to not have to try to talk.

We ended up running 6.5 miles.  I felt good when it was over.  My knee didn't have a good day today.  I'm hoping that it was just the cold weather that made it so painful.  The band that worked so well the week before didn't seem to make any difference today.