Neither cold, nor wind, nor snow, nor sleet will stop this lil' runner!

I had the most amazing morning.  I know, from the title of this post it sounds amazingly excruciating, but it wasn't.  When I registered for the Chattahoochee Challenge 10K several weeks ago, it was about 65 degrees.  This morning it hovered around 35.  Go figure.  My dear friend Stacey and I shlepped down to the river in our long pants, long sleeve shirts, jackets, hats and gloves, with these guys tucked warmly inside:

Needless to say, we did NOT look like "little hotties."  It was a function over fashion kinda morning.  When the race started, the air was nice and still and it really felt comfortable, until about 3 miles in, when it got windy.  I noticed a few little white flaky objects floating by, and it took me a second to realize those were flakes of SNOW.  Then, something hit me on the corner of my eye and stung, and I realized it was sleeting.  Seriously.  SLEETING!  Not to mention, we were running alongside the beautiful Chattahoochee River where the temp is generally a little cooler and the wind generally a little stronger.  The saving grace was that it was a BEAUTIFUL morning.  Think crisp, pure blue sky dotted with heavy white and gray snow clouds, the sun peeking through every now and then as if to wink at us and say "Sorry, not gonna warm you up today, suckers!" 

My run this morning was awesome.  I relied heavily on my new Garmin to check my pace and it helped immensely.  I kept a slower pace in the first half and ran hard in the second half - the magic of negative splits!  I am thrilled that I shaved 3 minutes off my previous best 10K time for a PR of 58:20.  YES.

I am even more thrilled, almost speechless, that I shaved ELEVEN MINUTES AND SEVENTEEN SECONDS off the time of my very first 10K that I ran in June 2010 - the exact same course.  In less than 2 years I have come a long, long way.  I remember the weeks leading up to that first 10K when I questioned myself about whether I could do it, cursed myself for signing up for it, and congratulated myself when I finished, just for finishing without walking.  Wow.  I have worked my butt off over the past two years and it shows! 

The point of this post is not to brag or boast, but to perhaps inspire just one of you who has been on the fence about trying something outside of your comfort zone.  Doesn't have to be running, it can be anything.  I truly believe that if you work hard enough at something, believe in your abilities, and tell those little voices inside your head that tell you you can't do it to shut the *%& up, you can do anything.  So try it, and see how it makes you feel.  I'm willing to bet you'll feel on top the world, like I do in this very moment.