Saturday, December 21, 2013 was the winter solstice and I wore shorts during my 18-mile run. Shorts and a T-shirt. And it wasn’t as if I was rebelling against Jack Frost or I’d lost my mind — the temperature in Washington, DC was in the 60s. How sweet is that? It was so warm that I sucked down my 40 ounces of water around the half marathon point and stopped in at Jenny’s around the 15.5 mile point to refill all four of my bottles.

Spring-like weather made the run even more fun. I wasn’t dreading lacing up after a round of BFit in the morning (I figured out kettlebell swings and they don’t hurt anymore!), and not only that, but I was downright giddy around mile 11.

I ran hard, to the point that stopping at traffic signals was harder than continuing to run. When I got back to Jenny’s I was hobbling/limping around as subtly as I could and with as much dignity as I could muster. When Jenny asked me if I planned to run the next day, I allowed, “Maybe,” but I had every intention of logging the ten miles prescribed by my training plan.

And log it I did! The first few miles on Sunday were rough, but I soon picked up speed as Saturday’s lactic acid flowed out of my legs. In principle it was a recovery run because I was recovering from the previous day’s long miles, but it wasn’t done at a plodding pace. Even better: it was still warm enough for a T-shirt and shorts.

On Sunday I eclipsed the 60-mile mark on my New Balance 870v3s, so I’ll try and get a review out soon. As far as I’m concerned, the more honest detail the better, so I’m going to be really thoughtful and careful in my analysis. Check back soon!

Merry Christmas!