Gale Force Winds

This was a hard one for a myriad of reasons:
1) Con was recovering from illness--1st run back
2) I was starting to come down with something
3) THE WIND--or should I say GALE FORCE WINDS at beach (was high 50 degrees with supposedly 10-12 mph winds--but at the beach it was 20-30 mph from the S--we felt like we were standing still and got wind burned on all exposed skin areas).

11 miles on the agenda--we decided to do a Jeff Galloway run/walk 4min/1 min--and that would have been just find if not for the WIND.  

I was actually really excited for the run--I was ready--it was the first long run in a while where I just felt like "I got this".  Here I am pre-run in my Badass Mother Runner shirt:

We started our run in Spring Lake--in hindsight this was a HUGE mistake.  The wind was from the S so this meant we would be running against the wind on our return.  We knew that when we started and we thought it would make for good preparation for our run since wind at the beach is very common.  What we did not count on was the increased wind force--when we started the wind was probably 12 mph--mid run it really picked up to 20 mph (felt like 30-40)--we were screwed.  It was beautiful out but getting very cold--our lack of gloves and ear covers which was originally a good idea was quickly becoming catastrophic (OK, maybe I am exaggerating).

We planned to run 5.5 out and back to get our 11 miles in.  Once we hit Ocean Grove, Con was wiped out and thirsty.  We ran down Main Street and stopped for water and a delicious slice of banana walnut bread----Forget the Cliff Shock Block--banana nut bread in now my favorite energy food mid run.  We stopped at the little coffee shop that I like:

We had a little further to go before we could turn around and head back to Spring Lake---so we headed into Asbury Park.  Now by this time everyone we passed on the boardwalk had on winter coats with hats and scarfs covering their faces.  It seemed all the runners we saw were headed N with the wind---Lucky Dogs.

Now I am an old OG girl so the fact that they dismantled the Casino was such a sad sight---Good time there--Good times.

We did see some SUPER COOL art work/graffiti--Does anyone know who put the art work up?

Eventhough the run kinda sucked--it was kinda good too.....