I can has tempo run?

I'm back after my week off...and yes, it did turn out to be a full week. Things got busy, there was a football game, and I woke up feeling like death (as in actual sickness, not hungover, amazingly) on Sunday so my running comeback was delayed until yesterday. It was also quite a rude awakening going running in 25 degree and snowy weather when the last time I ran was at Nationals where it was 55 and sunny. But apparently the cold weather worked out pretty well, since Nicole and I did what turned out to be a tempo run at 7:09 pace on the bike path. Yes...that's right...5 seconds faster per mile than my race at Nationals. Huh...that's cool...well, I guess in a way it kind of is, since I felt really good, but why couldn't I have pulled that out a week ago? Ohhh well. Anyway, it felt good, and today we did the Monona Bay loop at a slightly slower but still by no means lazy pace. The best part is, (knock on wood), I've felt NO pain in my hip the past 2 days! It's actually kind of amazing being able to walk around after a run and not be limping...and a little sad too that I got so used to it and just put up with it for that long. Either way, I hope that the week off and a few weeks of no workouts will be the cure for whatever that problem is/was.

I don't have anything planned in the way of races for awhile...if I could, I'd probably be doing a Thanksgiving Day race, but sadly Milwaukee hasn't jumped on that bandwagon yet. That's probably OK though since I'm sure I'm due for a break in racing, although I haven't done a road race in awhile and I'm kind of looking forward to the Jingle Bell Run in December. I'll pretty much be doing whatever I want running-wise until Thanksgiving, then after that starting lifting and doing some workouts to get ready for track...still don't know exactly what I'm running, but I guess we'll see. I think I get better at running in the cold every year, but ugh, I still hate winter in Wisconsin. Brrrrrr!