Saturday, Saturday.

Winter has descended upon Nashville, and I actually had to pull out my puffy North Face parka (the one I bought a couple years ago for the sole purpose of wearing while walking Ginger but has slowly worked its way into being worn for non-dog walking activities) to protect myself against the wind. I've been worried that wintry weather would bring my 5K training to a halt. It's just really hard to get yourself to go outside when it's that cold.

That's why I'm really damn proud of myself for waking up early this morning, putting on some of my new cold-weather gear (including some fancy runner's gloves I got at Target yesterday), and having a really good run around the neighborhood. I think what I read about running in cold weather is actually ringing true -- it's a little easier than running in the heat because the air doesn't feel so thick.

The race I've been planning to run is on Saturday, so it was important for me to make myself run this morning. For one, I need to build up my stamina as much as possible so I'm not having to take many breaks to walk during the race. My goal isn't to come in first or anything, but I do have a goal to finish in a respectable amount of time, or at least not be last. So the training was important today, but it was also important for me to know I can still get through a few miles when it's ass cold out and my nose is running. And I did get through it. So when I got to my computer at work this morning, I made a point to actually register for Saturday's race.

Ta-da!

It's official...no going back now.