RUNNING UPDATE:

Got up at 5:30 this morning.  Groaned and rolled over.  Fell out of bed around 6.  Up and out by 6:45.  I did something new this morning.  I went to the gym.  I've never had a gym membership and I've never gone to the gym out here.  But drastic times, drastic measures.  It's COLD and snowy.  The roads weren't even cleared and it snowed quit a bit overnight.  But, I brought my grand total mileage up to:

15.6 miles

I ran 4.3 today.  I hate treadmills.  They bother me.  It doesn't feel like I've gone anywhere for the past 45 minutes.  How boring is that?  But I have to do this.  The treadmill is my friend.  While the weather is being torturous I still have to keep my goal in sight.

Running outdoors makes everything go by so much quicker and it doesn't feel like I've run 5 or 6 or 7 miles.  It's awesome.  Plus, I've discovered that gyms make me ill.  For some reason, I start getting clammy and nauseous.  You don't have to say it...I know.  weird, right? I almost had to stop running at 3.5 miles because I felt sea sick or something.  But I finished out strong raised the incline to 3.5 and pounded out those last 3/10 of a mile.  (when I do run on a treadmill, I make sure the incline is set at 3 and then I raise it and lower it during my workout to challenge my muscles.)

Tomorrow, I am taking my long run.  I hope the weather is nice, because I don't want to do 8 miles on a treadmill.