It's been a windy week....

#windblown

Holy Hellbent Wind, Batman!

Iowa has had some very frustrating  and challenging weather as of late. This week's theme: WIND!

Monday started off beautiful, sunny but windy.....with a beautiful image of a cross in the sky (courtesy of a couple random airplanes).

Isn't that breath-taking?

Typically, I usually do only a mile on Mondays (for my #nevermissaMonday), but it was so nice outside (and I was feeling great after my 7-miler the day prior), so I ran two miles instead. I even did some power walking around the hilly block across the street (for two miles of hill work).

I didn't realize I was kind of rocking the Easter-egg look until after the pic was posted

Tuesday was another day with pleasant, warm spring weather, but it was a bit windy (I'm using the word "windy" quite conservatively). I met my friend, Barb, after work. We decided to head to the lake, which is an approximate mile-long loop around the perimeter. This worked out well as it gave us some pretty good wind protection for our 4-mile adventure.

Got wind? Head to the lake....

On Wednesday, I awoke with a slightly achy back and my hamstrings felt a little strained. I didn't have anything really planned (workout-wise) for the day, so I elected to have a bit of a recovery day.  After all, I had run seven miles on Sunday evening, two miles on Monday, and with the four miles on Tuesday, I think my body had earned some down time (although I still did some hill walking in the evening). I even skipped my weekly stair workout (yes, you heard it here first).

Thursday blessed me with the (still) achy-breaky back and hamstring tension. It was another long day at work, and another day of wind and gloom.

The sky was angry that day, my friend....

But, as the day progressed, the sun emerged! After work, I set out to do a few miles, but that first mile felt really slow and took a lot more effort than usual. Ugh. I hit the 1-mile mark, turned around, and decided to head back home. Although it was a frustrating run, it's the first challenging run I've had in quite awhile. Not every run is gonna be a great run, so I guess I was due for a doozy.

A difficult run always feels better in the sunshine!

Friday was April's Fool Day. We have never been (very) big into the whole fooling thing, but we certainly have played along with the craziness of the day. I texted the older daughter (at college) and told her I'd had an accident on the stairway and had to go the ER. And she believed me.

April 1st is also my husband's birthday. Both of his parents are now gone, but there were so many times in years past when they'd call him on his birthday (apparently forgetting it also was April Fool's Day). My husband is kind of a joker (I'm using that word conservatively also), and on several different occasions he'd tell them that they were going to be grandparents again. And every time (and I do mean EVERY time) they'd believe him, no matter how many other times he'd pranked them with the same story.

A pic from a couple of years ago of me and my favorite April Fool

Saturday was a day that Momma N really showed her attitude....temps in the high 30's and crazy wind (upwards of 40mph at times). My back was still feeling a little wonky, and since I knew it would be warmer the next day (and I was going to be running long then), I decided to go for a long walk. Barb met me, and we battled the wind for four miles. I kid you not, it was a struggle to not fall over each other, the wind was that powerful!

Accidental matchy-matchy on the clothing choices #greatminds

Sunday. Ahhh, spring had (again) returned, only this time bringing it with it summer-time temps. It was in the high 70's, oodles of gorgeous sunshine, and wind (again), only this time the wind was a steady SW 27mph (with 49mph gusts). Our first four miles were going south and west, head-on into it. When we finally made it to the halfway point, we were exhausted. We walked briefly up a short hill (and took a mid-run selfie), then finished off the remaining miles.

The splits tell the story: 9:22, 9:45, 9:50, 10:27, 10:03, 9:58, 10:04, 9:52....average pace of 9:55. Mile 4, the slowest mile, was out in the wide-open, headed due west. Yikes, it was tough! This was one of those of runs that really made me happy to have a friend along beside me....or it may not have happened. None the less, it felt great to have the warm temps return, and I am always happy to be back in a tank top!

In other news:
**I received a picture post card from a trail race I ran last summer (race recap HERE), inviting me back! What a nice, personal touch. And, yes, I'll be returning!

It's hard to see them in the pic, but I'm holding two (count 'em, TWO) medals from that day

**Spring is in the air, and our daffodils are just about in bloom!

Can you see it? The first daffodil is about to great us!

**A dear friend (and neighbor) gifted us this treasured book about running.

I will, indeed, need to make time to read this!

**I have been playing with the flat iron more and more. My hair had a major case of bed-head on Sunday morning, but I also had a long run on tap for the afternoon (so there was no way I was gonna take the time to wash it). So, what to do? Create some waves and call it good for church.

Excuse the goofy smile (and lack of lipstick), but I was focusing on the mirror image and  not my face (#oops) 

How was your week? Any crazy wind for you to do battle with? Did you get pranked on April Fool's Day?

I'm linking with my gals, Holly from HoHo Runs  and Tricia from  MissSippiPiddlin  for the Weekly Wrap. As always, I invite you to head over and checkout all the blogs and see what's been happening!