A Very Windy Week of Pi

It's been said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I've been doing the Week of Pi Challenge, every year, since 2020. I look forward to it every year because it's a quirky way to celebrate a quirky day (in more ways than one).

Well, this year I had to make a slight exception. 

I'm talking about the day of March 14th,which is the National Day of Pi (you know, the number 3.14, which is used in calculating the area of a circle). March 14th is also my birthday, and I happen to be not only a runner but also a bit of a math dork. Therefore, it's my obligation to combine the two with a week-long celebration of daily Pi runs (3.14 miles).

In lieu of March 14th being the grand finale, this year the Week of Pi festivities actually started on that day instead (due to a scheduled steroid injection, a few days prior, which interfered with the original plan). No big whoop.

Here's a recap of how the 2023 Week of Pi played out...

Day-1...Birthday Pi for lunch

Pace - 9:36 

Splits - 9:29 / 9:38 / 9:42 / 9:27 (the extra :14)

The day was cold, but filled with sunshine. I took the first Pi run to the lake and ran three laps over my lunch break. A highlight was seeing my first robin!

Day-2...A warm & windy Pi run

Pace - 9:36

Splits - 9:39 / 9:34 / 9:18 / 9:18 (the extra .14)

It definitely was not my plan to run an almost exact same pace as I'd done the day prior, especially since that first mile was practically straight into the 20mph wind. It's pretty obvious I had a strong tailwind pushing me in the final mile. Although the sun had gone into hiding, I was grateful for the mid-50F temps!

Day-3...Pi for an early morning breakfast

Pace - 10:11

Splits - 10:11 / 10:09 / 10:09 / 9:18 (the extra .14)

With a full day of rain in the forecast (and probable snow in the late afternoon), the wee hours were my best (if not only) option. Thankfully, the temps were mild and the wind didn't feel too torrential. BTW, the snow made a grand appearance right after I'd gotten home from work...giving us a few inches of ground cover and leaving our streets full of snow and heavy slush. 

 

Day-4...lucky Pi on St. Patrick's Day

Pace - 10:08

Splits - 10:05 / 10:14 / 10:10 / 9:31 (the extra .14)

Another (somewhat) dreary and overcast day, the wind was simply insane! I didn't feel like testing my luck (or balance skills) on possible black ice and/or frozen slushy streets...so I postponed the run until later. Ironically, the after-work temps were the warmest of the day. This run went much better than expected, which was quite a relief because I'd been dreading it all day with the wind.

Day-5...Procrastinated Pi

Pace - 10:08

Splits - 10:09 / 10:19 / 10:02 / 9:29 (the extra .14)

The wake-up temps were in the single digits, and the "feels-like" temps were sub-ZERO. So, I elected to stay inside until things warmed up a tad outside. I had so many layers on, it felt like I was dragging myself through mud. Imagine my surprise when I saw the same average pace (and nearly identical splits) as the previous day. Not sure how that happened because the conditions were so much colder and the route was completely different.

 

Day-6...Pi, Served Sunny Side-Up

Pace - 10:06

Splits - 9:57 / 10:11 / 10:11 / 9:52 (the extra .14)

What can I say? The temps were cold (again), but the bright sun and single-digit wind were game-changers.

 

Day-7...The Grand Finale!

Pace - 9:24

Splits - 9:34 / 9:21 / 9:21 / 8:54 (the extra .14)

Now this was a grand finale like none other! Not only was it the first day of spring (#finally!), but after several days of dead-of-winter temps, we were rewarded with true seasonal weather conditions. I kept this route a simple out & back endeavor on part of the bike trail. As I was approaching the 1-mile mark, Allison appeared from out of no where, and joined me for the remainder of my run. Needless to say, the two remaining miles went much quicker (literally and figuratively) and I finished feeling like I could have run much further. 

Some thoughts on the 2023 Week of Pi:

***No doubt, this was the coldest and windiest Week of Pi, ever. Granted, there were a couple days I was able to wear shorts, but the cold days were extremely cold for this time of year.

***Despite my best efforts, I had a tough time keeping my pace as "easy" as I'd intended. Since I was doing this mini 7-day Pi streak, I didn't want (or need) to turn these runs into speed workouts or tempo runs (but a few of them ended up looking that way). I didn't feel like I was pushing myself on any of them (other than fighting the wind), and I truly was just running "by feel." I guess my long legs, and long strides, have a mind of their own, LOL.

***Starting these seven daily Pi runs on my actual birthday, this year, kind of made the entire week a bit anti-climatic. Usually, I do the daily runs during the week leading up to my birthday, so doing them after my special day seemed a little out-of-the ordinary. That said, Day-7 did land on the first day of spring, so it wasn't all bad.

***I'm grateful for how good that last run felt! Not only was it my fastest (and maybe my easiest?) run of the week, but my entire body felt great the entire time I was in motion. I had been feeling some fatigue as the week had been wearing on, so the final run was the perfect grand finale.

***As in years past, I made it a priority to run a different route each day, and to vary the the time of day. Also, I kept the cross-training pretty light since these daily 3.14-mile runs were the priority.

If it's of interest, you can check out the previous Weeks of Pi recaps here; 2022, 2021, 2020

So that's my story on the 2023 Week of Pi. 

Have you ever done a challenge or tribute run in honor of your birthday? Do any "national days" fall on your birthday? 

I'm linking this with Kim and Zenaida for the Tuesday Topics Link-Up

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