Saturday Dedication Runs

Today's Run: Road. 32 degrees. 4.1 miles; Splits: 9:18; 8:46; 8:38; 8:29; :46; 35:57; 8:46/mile average pace.

I've decided to dedicate my Saturday runs to those persons who are unable to run due to injury. Today's run was dedicated to Lisa, of http://watchlisarun.blogspot.com/. Lisa has a fracture in one leg and is unable to run for a while. She always has kind words to say whenever I post my latest run. So it was my pleasure to dedicate today's run to her.
After reading Meg's post http://megrunsalot.blogspot.com/ about running hills, I decided that I'd challenge myself with some difficult hills today. Once again it was the all too familiar almost winter day, with the temperature being 32 degrees and the cold north wind blowing. I preplanned my run with the first half being run into the wind, and the second half being helped with the wind at my back. The course I set up had two tough hills, and I ran down one hill and up the next. So of course after I turned around and headed towards my home I was also faced with a downhill run followed by the uphill run. The majority of my run was on a main route (Route 10). I always wonder if I'll run by someone who knows me and thinks it's a good idea to beep their horn, thereby scaring the sh*t out of me. I also think that at least half of the people driving by think I'm nuts for running in the freezing cold. Of course I always hope that there's the one or two people who may actually be motivated enough by my running out in the elements to become runners themselves. OK, probably not, but I can dream, can't I?! I really do enjoy running up hills. I think having long legs helps. Plus there's the extra feeling of accomplishment once you reach the top. As you can tell by reading this, my run didn't really have any earth shattering excitements or exciting elements to it. On second thought it did. I was able to run today for Lisa. Lisa, here's to hoping your fracture heals quickly and that you come back stronger than ever. If anyone knows of someone I can dedicate next Saturday's run to, please send me their blog link or their name. Tomorrow at 10:15 a.m. I will be running in my favorite 5K of the year: The Christopher Martin's Run For Children 5K.http://www.jbsports.com/cmchrisrun.htm From the website: "Our Mission - We hope to make Christmas a little brighter for needy children in the New Haven area by giving them not only a toy, but the message of love from friends and neighbors they have never met. Over the years, our race has given over 40,000 toys to children." The post race party has free food and 5 kegs of free beer available. If I don't post a race report for a few days I'm sure you'll understand. :-)