Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run on the trails, better traction today, no ice, compacted snow. They are calling from 7-10" of snow tomorrow, looks like some tough running this week.

Running 4 Kicks, Palos Heights Loop

Saturday morning run on the hills, felt sluggish today, I was hoping to run 10 just happy to finish the one loop.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run on the trails. Another difficult run on the trails because of poor traction from the snow covered trails.

Oak Lawn Pavilion Indoor Track

5mi miles on the indoor track, didn't want to deal with the slush on the roads or mud/slush/mush of the trails.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Beautiful sunny afternoon on the trails, but the trails snow covered from the 4" of snow from last week, tough going, felt like running in sand, but a good workout for the legs!

Running 4 Kicks, Palos Heights Loop

Nice morning run on the hilly Palos Heights 10mi loop. Tough workout on the hills! Good week for mileage 44.5miles.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run on the trails. No ice or mush, nice hard frozen trail today!

Country Lane 5mi Loop

Nice trail run, cool and sunny!

Argonne, Waterfall Glen

Tough, tough long trail run today with my friend Jim from work, the first loop was fine my average pace was around 8:40, the second loop was the challenge. Last week my wife and I decided to do weight watchers, I wanted to lose the 10lb that I gained over the holidays to improve my running. Problem is I didn't have enough carbs or protein before the long run and it hit me hard after the first loop. Thank goodness for Jim motivating me to push on. The moral of story be smart about what I eat before a long run!

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run on the trails, I only had time for 5mi today, what I don't understand is why the 5mi felt just as difficult at the normal 10. I guess it is all mental...

Oak Lawn Neighborhood Loop x 3

Nice run around the neighborhood, 44° and sunny!

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run, very windy 25-30mph winds, trails had numerous long(100+ ft)  patches of ice that covered the limestone trails edge to edge, thank goodness for my pull-over spikes!

Oak Lawn Pavilion, Indoor Track

Ok, I admit it, I wimped out and ran at the indoor track. I don't mind the heat, cold, ice, snow or mud, but not the cold(<40) and steady rain. The indoor track has it issues as well, running in circles for almost an hour and half is tough mentally. After only running 16mi last week, I need to make up for it this week!

Lake Shannon, Fenton, MI

Visiting my brother in Michigan this weekend. Nice loop around the lake, a cold 3°, new low as far as temperature for  a run! I had planned on doing 2 loops but too cold!

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run was a real workout today. Frozen limestone trail + 4" packed snow = poor traction. No ice on the trails, just little traction, very little push off after each foot plant. Despite the footing it was still a fun run in the 30s with snow flurries!

Coutry Lane 5mi Loop x3

Nice trail run in 2" of fresh snow with Angelica, Maria, Andy and Jim. Ran the normal 5mi loop with the group, then Jim and I did the 6mi loop followed by another 5mi loop. A lot of slipping and sliding made for a tough run.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run, 17° and snow flurries. It is amazing what a difference the terrain makes, I was 2 minutes faster today on the hard frozen trail versus 30° warmer and mushy trails on Monday. Miles 8 and 9 were my fastest miles at 8:18 and 8:20.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Nice day for a lunch time run, from 18° on Saturday to 47° today. The trails were mushy in spots and icy in others, made for a tough messy workout.

F^3 Lake Half Marathon

Nice half marathon along the Chicago Lakefront with a large group from Running Excels!

Oak Lawn Neighborhood Loop x 2

Nice run around the neighborhood, first real snow fall this winter, snow flurries the entire distance, since it was cold an windy it wasn't accumulating on the streets so traction was still good.

Country Lane 5mi Loop

Cold 9° and windy on the trails. I planned on running 10, but stopped after 5mi, I dressed right, had enough layers but had difficulties in breathing in the cold. New record running temp for me.

Burbank Frosty 5K

Nice 5K with Angelica, Carm, Maria, Andy, John and Shawn. Cool 36°.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run, sunny and cold.. brrrrr ....

Oak Lawn Neighborhood Loop

Short run around the neighborhood. My goal was to do a practice 5k run in preparation for the Burbank Frosty 5K on Sat. I was shooting for a 7:00 pace. After I saw my first mile was 7:27, I realized two things, one, I couldn't pickup the pace, and two, it would be hard to maintain the 7:27 pace. I was hoping to do better, hopefully race day adrenaline will be a boost.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run. Sunny and 20°, limestone trails were a little icy today from the weekend snow/sleet. My Garmin died again, time to order a new battery and trying to replace it myself. Found a few good links on how to open and replace the battery on a Garmin 305.

Country Lane Yellow Trail. Orange Trail and Bull Frog Lake Blue Trail

Nice 50° weather for a long trail run. Maria, Carm, Jim and myself started out on the Yellow Trail, the girls did a 5 mile loop, Jim and I continued on the yellow trail, to the orange trail, and the Bull Frog Lake blue trail for a 16mile trail run. I have never been on the orange trail, very challenging and hilly! Our goal was to run 20 but after 16, I was done.

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Lunch time run on a nice sunny day. The trails were still partially snow covered from the light weekend snow. Forgot the Garmin, so just timed the run over the same distance.

Turtlehead Lake, Palos Heights

Nice run with the Sat morning group. My Garmin's battery died after 3miles, it is a 10.5mi loop but we were doubling back for the the others, so my pace was all over the place, still a fun run with good friends!

Danada County Trails, Herrick Lake

Afternoon run on the trails, a cool 27°. A difficult run mentally, for a second day in a row, I just didn't feel like running, I kept taking inventory, cold, no, legs sore, no, cardio ok, yes, fatigued, no; ok no excuses just keep on pushing, if you stop you will get cold, just keep going.....

Oak Lawn Neighborhood Loop

First run of the New Year. I really did not feel like running today, just did two loops around the neighborhood.