Spring?!

Well, well, well, here we are. It is still cold and today was windy with flurries, although we've had some days of melty warmth here and there and some rain tossed in. Facebook memories are taunting me with photos of pleasant-weather bike rides in March and April in past years. 

I wore my cross country
skiing clothes for today's run.

On the bright side, I've been able to find some non-icy spots to run during a time when I probably wouldn't be able to get out on my bike anyhow. This will prove to have been important, I think, for the half marathon I signed up to do in May. I still will need to get some bike riding in to train for our hilly ride in Belgium in June, but apparently this was a good year to decide to do a running race (due to poor biking conditions thus far)? 

I am halfway through week 5

I have been following the training plan perfectly so far, which is akin to the commitment I put in to training for my very first BikeMS ride over a dozen years ago. I've had to use my inhaler more for exercising outside post-COVID, but am feeling pretty good, especially after I got new orthotics and new running shoes. I'd appreciate any support you can provide - good wishes or donations to the MS Society (https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo-2023). 

You can also show your support by giving me a few suggestions for my running playlist! I learned when running 6 miles last Saturday that podcasts are going to be my thing for long training days, but I would like a fun fresh mix of music for the day of the half marathon. Help me build it!

Oh, you may be asking, "Maggie, but didn't Minneapolis get nearly 9 inches of snow on Saturday, despite it being April? Isn't this the third snowiest winter in Minneapolis ever in recorded history? How did you accomplish this feat?" 

This gave me something to ponder

March 11 - I thought this was going to be the last
of the cold weather. Ha! The trail was pretty empty at least.

I was in California with my sisters, my stepmom, and my brother-in-law, and ran three times in the mild temps and then rewarded myself with fresh grapefruit from my sister's backyard. Two a day! And I brought two home with me. Yummmm. 

I'm still not a master of selfies, but like this photo
nonetheless. We had lunch by the beach after I ran 6 miles
for the first time in my life. I'd done 5 several times
in high school, but never 6. Pretty soon I'll be
doing double that. I guess.

In any event, it looks like it will be warm this weekend and the snow may finally melt once and for all. Bike riding on my non-running days seems like it will happen. Wish me luck in avoiding all the debris that was hiding under the snowbanks for 5 months, not falling into any of the many deep, wide potholes while biking, and not getting sideswiped by cars avoiding said potholes. 

I'm exciting to try out the new biking things I got for Christmas, finally!

(Also, many apologies for accidentally bolding this entire post and being unable to revert it to normal. I don't know what is going on. But I will use italics for extra flair, I guess.)