Cold and Sloooow

Today's Run: Temperature: 45 degrees. Linear Trail: 4.1 miles; splits: 9:23; 9:31; 9:35; 9:34; :54; 35:44; 9:30/Mile pace.

It feels like winter here in Connecticut. Yesterday it snowed and fortunately none of it stuck to the ground around here. However, some parts of our state got almost 2 inches of snow. Today's high temperature was in the 40's. It was cold and breezy when I arrived home from work. The outside temperature was 45 degrees, with a "feels like" temperature of 42 degrees. I didn't want to run, even though I knew I had to. So I decided to dress warmly, meaning my winter running apparel of long sleeved top and long running pants. That was my bribe to keep my logical left brain happy. Left brain doesn't like to be cold, and doesn't think it's a good idea to run in the cold. Since the marathon last Saturday, I walked 3 1/2 miles on Tuesday, and walked and ran 3.85 miles on Wednesday. I've been trying to get back into some kind of a running groove, since in less than 16 days I'll be running the NY City Marathon. So I have next week to regain as much mojo as I can, then I'll be back to tapering and carb loading two weeks from now. So today I knew it was time for a short run without walking. It was a struggle. The extra clothing made me feel heavier...a lot heavier. My legs were like stone. Even my breathing the first few miles wasn't quite right. I considered taking walk breaks, but pushed myself and reminded myself that I would be writing this and didn't want to say I wimped out. A mile seemed like forever today. I felt as if I had regressed three years to when I first began running. I was glad I had chosen to run on the relatively flat trail, and not the road with hills to conquer. My splits were 9:23, 9:31, 9:35, and 9:34, and 54 seconds. Very slow for me, but also fairly consistent. I guess I was in denial that it would take some time to recover between marathons. Well, I have two weeks. Hopefully by taking it easy and doing some running, I'll regain my stride for NY. As much as I'd like to shut it down until then, I think that would do more harm than good. I'm looking for some help here, Lindsay and you veteran marathoners. Your opinions, please.
A few random thoughts. I'm about $100 short of my $2600 goal for team Autism Speaks. I sent the remaining balance to them, since the deadline is tomorrow. I'm still having pizza sales at the school I'm working at, so I'll reach my goal about a week or so late. That's ok though, because as I said, I already sent the balance due, and will reimburse myself the $100 that I put in once I raise it. Thanks again to everyone who contributed.
A few more post marathon thoughts. First, thank-you to all nine of you who left such positive and inspiring comments. As I said, I'm a wuss and do get emotional very easily. I've read your comments over and over again, and words cannot express how much they mean to me. Hartford was my third marathon and by far my best marathon. I followed my training plan as best as I could, and with the exception of what I reported in my marathon race report, followed it through during the marathon. I was amazed at how many people I met were also using some type of a Jeff Galloway run-walk-run marathon plan. Run-walk-run works. Over the course of the last 10 miles or so, I was passing a great deal more runners than were passing me. The 4:45 pace group had mostly first time marathon runners, and over the course of the last half of the marathon, most of them couldn't keep up and eventually dropped back. With run-walk-run, I played "cat and mouse" with them, and then felt strong enough to go ahead and stay ahead of them. I encountered a lot of runners walking the last 5 or so miles, and I still was going strong, even up hills. Also, as I mentioned in my race report, I had negative splits from the beginning to the end at the timed checkpoints.