Snowy Saturday!

All week I've been waiting for my "long" run.  After a month of relatively random training and then last week's Maffetone test, I've been looking forward to getting started on a "build" phase in my training that will last the next 4-6 weeks.  This will emphasize a fair amount of running and should have me prepared with a solid aerobic base by the time Spring officially rolls around.

This route, but covered in White!

When I awoke this morning, I discovered that there was a fair amount of snow on the ground, and more was coming down.  By noon, the roads were either snow packed, or a slushy mess.  In other words, it was just perfect for a run.
One thing I love about summer time is how easy it is to go for a run.  It takes less than a minute to throw on a pair of shorts and a shirt, and pull on a visor.  In the winter, it's a bit more of a process. Fortunately, I wasn't in a big hurry, so I took my time, put together a playlist on iTunes, and got ready to head out the door.  I was feeling good!

Tunes for the trail!

Despite years of living in Colorado, I'm still amazed at how recklessly people will drive, even in the crappiest of weather conditions.  For this reason, I headed north out of my neighborhood and up to an underdeveloped area where there are plenty of trails to run on.  While this decreased the chance that I'd be flattened by a car skidding out of control, it did mean that I'd have to break a trail through the snow for most of the run.  But, since this had a much lower death factor than running on the roads,  I literally plowed ahead.

The frozen tundra!

Just over a mile into the run, I ran past a couple of other people who were out for a jog.  Seeing other runners around is a fairly unusual experience where I live, and it was doubly so given the conditions.  There were a fair number of folks outside, but most were shoveling the snow off of their driveways.
Although the snow continued to come down through most of the run, it really wasn't that cold out (maybe around 25 degrees).  I find that as long as I keep my upper body warm, I can run in shorts and not feel uncomfortable.  After a few miles, the snow was "sticking" to my shoes a bit, and my feet got fairly wet, but they never felt too cold or uncomfortable.

Not too shabby!

My original plan had been to run about 8 miles, but I wound up feeling pretty good and made it a little over nine miles.  My pace was extremely slow, but I chalk that up to the fact that most of the time, I was pulling my feet out of 2-3 inches of snow.  Despite this, or maybe because of it, I felt pretty good the whole time and enjoyed my longest run in over three months!