Still running

So far I've managed to keep running this winter. Sure, it's only January, but I was really worried I'd return to my lazy/inert days of yore and stop exercising. That hasn't happened, but it HAS been a bit of a struggle lately to get myself out there.

I think if I step back from my feelings and look at the facts, I'm actually doing okay:

• In December I only ran once/week.  Certainly not awesome, but given two different trips, weather,  holidays - I'll take it.
• So far this month I've run nine times -  I took a week off after a (non-running) injury, but have gotten out three times/week otherwise, and am on track to do so this week, too.
• My distances have not been awesome - my shortest (when I was limited for time) was 1.66 miles, and my other runs have ranged from 2.2 to 2.5 miles.
• When it's not a running day, I'm walking a good bit - Sunday I walked a whopping nine miles!!! - but I'm not doing any purposeful cross-training.
• My running buddies aren't running at all. I used to get an ego boost out of running more and better than they were, but this is getting ridiculous. We're signed up for a 5k in March and it'll be interesting to see if they participate! (One has a very busy life and the other...has no good reasons and is struggling a lot.)
• While my distances aren't great, my pace is improving. I'm consistently hitting between 11:30 and 12-minute miles, whereas in October my runs were more typically 12:30 and even 12:45. Wow, I've shaved a minute off my time in many cases! 

Okay, that really did help. Yeah, I'm tired, and yeah, I have been running out of energy/motivation/willpower mid-run. I think I need to change up some of my fueling choices, and I also need to be patient - that I'm running at all in these chilly days is huge. High five, me! (And keep it up - that 5k looms!)