hallucinatory cowbell

I am hooked on dailymile.com.

Cowbell - I always want more.

For those of you who haven't discovered DM, it's kind of like Facebook for runners, cyclists and triathletes.  I stumbled upon it in January while looking for a race widget for my blog.  It seemed like a nice place to record my workouts but I didn't begin to fully utilize it until recently.  By fully utilize, I mean, I didn't tap into the DM community.  What a supportive group of people on there!  Lots of knowledge, friendliness, humor, good advice, consoling when needed, and cowbell - something of which I am always in more need.  (For players of point-based Corporate Buzzword Bingo: 2 points for "utilize," 4 points each for "tap into" and "fully utilize," and 50 point bonus for having "fully utilize" show up in consecutive sentences.)

I've had a pretty decent week: got some miles in (20 total), and did a couple of kettlebell classes.  The weather has been kind of sucky so I've spent too much time on the treadmill.  I'm so grateful to have one right in my own house but dang, I get soooooo tired of running on it.  So yesterday, despite the 31 mph wind gusts, the blowing and drifting snow and the ice, I decided to go outside for my seven mile run.  I just couldn't face seven on the treadmill.

WHAT was I thinking???  It was brutal.  We got about one inch of snow which was getting whipped into a frenzy by the wind.  There were times I couldn't see because the snow was blowing so hard.  Things did settle down somewhat weather-wise but it was a really tough run.  And all that ice made for some exciting times.  But I managed to stay upright - yay core!! - and my last mile was the fastest one of the run.  Whoo hoo!!  I did have one really hilariously surreal moment during my run.  Somewhere in the middle of mile 5, I was running through a neighborhood and this kid - he was about 5 or 6 years old - came barreling out of a driveway like a rabid dog, blew past me (all the while looking at me like I was the neighborhood creeper) and ducked into another driveway and <poof!> he was gone.  So that was weird enough, but it was his outfit that put the whole experience over the top: looked like he was wearing his dad's (or more likely, his grandpa's) brown plaid coat, red pants and I shit you not, bright blue swim googles.  Total WTF moment.  I thought I was hallucinating.

Back to dailymile.com.....  I posted about my impending run - figured I needed the accountability so that I actually got my butt out the door - and then posted once I returned.  I got SO MUCH support (AKA precious cowbell) both before and after, it made me feel great about getting out there and battling the elements for my little seven mile run.

But I can tell I'll have to clean up my language for my posts.  People on there are much nicer than I am and I have yet to see anyone refer to themselves as a whore of any kind.