Relief just around the corner

... and down the road about 20 miles.
I guess the good weekend weather couldn't last all winter long. Boy, it was a true winter day today. I knew it was coming all week long; the forecast for Saturday was the same on Monday as it was Friday: low 20s and windy. Wind chill around 7 to 10 degrees.
I finally decided I just had to go out there and get it done. You can't NOT do it. So, I put my best cold-weather gear on and headed out. Really, if you dress right, it's not that bad. The only part of me that got cold was my face. In fact, it was so cold that when a woman stopped me at mile 19.5 to ask directions to "all the tall buildings," I could barely talk. The oil in my jaw joints was as thick as ... as ... as roofing tar.
"Weau, go ack ow oo high-a nine ..." and so on. The jaw just would not move. I'm sure she thought I was drunk or had had a stroke out there.
Strangely, I ran my 20 in 3:11, exactly the same time my last 20 took three weeks ago. I don't think my watch sticks there. I thought I might do better than that, but battling into that freezing cold head wind started to take it's toll around 16 (OK, I was getting tired and might have been a little under-hydrated). I considered just running away from my car with the wind until I hit 20 and then calling my wife for a ride back, but finally decided that seemed a bit too wimpy.
Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not unhappy with my time. A long run isn't about speed. I just wanted to finish feeling OK, and I pretty much did that.
The weather has to be better than this in three weeks in Little Rock, doesn't it?