winter wonderland
George Herbert once said "Every mile is two in winter." it can certainly feel that way. we got 4 inches of snow last night so instead of running in the wee hours of the morning, i shoveled the driveway and sidewalk. i brought gear with me to work and headed out over the noon hour, with my ipod. (gasp!)
i ended up running mainly in the streets facing traffic. thankfully much of the roads i was on weren’t heavily traveled. the first half of the run was especially tough as i was heading into a headwind while trying to maintain reasonable footing. i opted for a out and back loop on the Christopher Columbus Causeway to avoid traffic. the snow plows hadn’t been down the road so i ended up running in the tire tracks left by the folks who had driven through before me. nearing the point where i turn around, the snow had drifted over the road making it nearly impossible to take a step without getting a blast of snow down my shoe.
as i headed back, some yahoo in a minivan came tearing down the CCC. i saw him coming and moved off the road to let him pass. he did a few doughnuts in the snow drifts then came tearing back down the road. i again moved way off to the side, not minding much as i ended up just running in the fresh tire tracks that he had left.
the effort on the way back was much easier with the wind pushing me along. admittedly, i wasn’t quite as careful with my footing and leaped over a few snowbanks. regardless, i shuffled into the locker room to the astonishment of one of the guys i know. he grew up in mexico and doesn’t like the cold. he admired that i was out-n-about in the slop and headed to the treadmill for his workout.
in the end, i mustered all of 5 miles. i didn’t have my watch so i’m not real sure of the pace. perhaps it was for the best.