I'm a Negative (Splits) Person

Yesterday's Run: Road. 35 degrees. (Wind chill very cold!) 4.1 miles; Splits: 8:56; 8:52; 8:29; 8:20; :48; 35:32; 8:37/mile average pace.

(First, I have accepted the fact that it's winter and my new running shoes will get dirty and wet. Thank-you blogging buddies for busting my ass and making me suck it up and be ok with this. I love you all)
Here comes a familiar theme. I didn't want to run yesterday. I'm a weather wimp. I don't like running in the cold, although if my times continue to improve like they have been, I may change my mind. I rushed home after work yesterday and quickly changed into my running attire. The nice thing about living 7 miles from where I work and getting out at 3 p.m. is that I can get home in time to get out and run before the ridiculously early 4:20 p.m. sunset. Another week and a half to go before we start getting a later sunset, but who's counting? (I am). Anyhow, it was 35 degrees outside and windy!!! Yes, it was windy with three exclamation points. I convinced logical left brain that it was going to be ok to go out and run since 1) I was dressed warmly; 2) I was only going to run for half an hour; and 3) Once a mile or so passed, I would warm up and all would be well. Left brain agreed it was alright to run. So out the door I went. Two minutes into my run, I was about ready to turn and head back home. As I reached the crest of a hill I was met by a very cold north wind that was blowing strong. I don't usually have difficulty breathing during cold weather runs, but this wind took my breath away. I was gasping as the cold air reached my lungs. I quickly took a strategic left turn down a side street so that the wind was no longer blowing directly into my face. The quarter mile detour worked. As I reached mile one, still unnamed Garmin beeped and displayed an 8:56. Anytime I start with a sub 9 minute mile I'm encouraged, since my mile splits generally improve once I've warmed up. A left turn back onto the road I had left meant the cold wind was again in my face. At that point I was warmed up, so the wind was actually a plus. I wandered off the street a few times to add on mileage, figuring I'd get to the mile and a half turnaround point that much quicker and closer to home. As I reached 2 miles, still unnamed Garmin barely beeped (it was cold) and an 8:52 appeared. At that point I was feeling so good that I decided to up my run to 4 miles. I was headed back home with the wind at my back and feeling great. I was a running machine, and couldn't wait to see my mile 3 split. Another barely audible gasp from still unnamed Garmin, and an 8:29 split appeared. "No way" I said out loud! It had become another effortless run, and an uphill and a downhill, across the one-way bridge, left onto my street I completed my 4.1 miles in front of my next door neighbor's house in 35:25. My last mile was an 8:20; last tenth of a mile in 48 seconds; overall average split per mile was an 8:37. As I said earlier, I may just become a cold weather running addict if my times continue to improve. Good luck to any of you out there running races this weekend. I'm doing a 5K on Sunday. I promise you that race report and the after race party report will be one worth waiting for. I'm going to try to get a quick start and go for a PR. I don't know if that will be possible since it's a new course this year which I'm not familiar with, it goes along narrow streets, and about 1500 runners will be running it.