Was rudely woken up by a phone call this morning. School was closed. It was closed yesterday due to a power outage. Today was due to snow. Snow? Snow way! Way! My wife got out of bed and looked outside. Snow! 4 inches! Snow way I thought. 4 inches? They were calling for a dusting at most. Turns out, weathermen are just guessing the weather and only speak in generalities.
Anyway, I promptly turned off my alarm and went back to bed. I tried to go back to bed yesterday but everyone came back home when they discovered the lack of power. And even though I tried to go back to sleep this morning, I wasn't very successful. I was too excited by the prospect of running in the snow as well as using my tractor to clear the driveway. Turns out the driveway only had an inch or two so I just shoveled it. I cleaned off our cars then shoveled my neighbor's driveway then cleaned off her cars.
Once my warm-up was done, I went out for my run. I had planned to do 5 miles but it quickly turned into 1 mile since my fingers were frozen thanks to wet gloves. And I had malfunctioning snow-cleat thingies. Once I got back home, I realized I put them on backwards so I went back out for another mile just to test them. They worked fine once I installed them correctly. Although the heel cleats did gather some snow/ice/slush and I had to kick it off a bit. Outside of that, they worked and felt fine. No, they aren't YakTrax but look a lot like them. Just a hell of a lot cheaper.
I also learned that I need to jump off the road as soon as I hear a car coming. I played it safer than normal by jumping the ditch when a car came but I misjudged a berm and slipped and fell when I waited too long for one of them. Oh well, lesson learned. I also discovered that my Lone Peaks do not have traction on ice but work great in snow and slush. My cleats worked great under all conditions but did slide a bit in the grass when there was an angle.
How the road looked today.
Like a dumbass, I put my snow-cleats on backwards. Can you tell I live in the South?
Damn. I think I blinked. But at least I smiled!
Weather:
Temps were about 25F. Wind was about 20 mph. Sun came and went. Snow fell and stopped but there was plenty blowing off the trees too.
Fluids and Fuel:
Pre-run meal was a burrito, iced coffee, one egg, and yogurt. During the run I had a bottle of Hammer Fizz and a small flask of Hammer Perpeteum. Recovery was Hammer Soy.
Aches and Pains:
My pride was hurt a bit when I slipped and fell in the ditch. I'm sure the redneck that passed me had a great chuckle.
Gear:
Wore my snow cleats. Wore T-Star shorts, tights, and pants. Wore two hats (one to cover my face) and gloves. Wore thermal shirt, long sleeve shirt, and my Brooks wind breaker.
Codename - The Edge
Thanks to Lauren, I was reminded to run on the edges of the snow pack, not down the middle. I didn't slip on the road but I could feel the ice under certain sections. The crunchy stuff is what you need to aim for. Oh, I also learned that running in the snow is slower than running on the trail.
Splits:
Mile 1 - 14:38
Mile 2 - 12:52
Finish - 27:30
3 comments:
Where the heck do you live? I keep seeing sea shore, now snow.
You can keep it ambigous, just curious.
I've been inside on a treadmill, bu that's because it's been freaking FIVE degrees out on my time to go run.
It's nice that it has been a cut back week for me.
King George, VA. Between DC and Richmond but east towards Maryland a bit. The "sea shore" you saw was the Potomac River. And 4 inches of snow here is like 4 feet in Ohio terms. Lived in the snowbelt of PA for a bit and things are waaaaay different there than they are here.
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had rain all day on the coast here, and all I could think about was all the snow being dumped in the mountains.
Yes, it is much harder to run in the snow. If you can run with someone else, it helps to run behind them and run in their footsteps. :)
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