An Icy Start to 2012 & Race Ponderings

I met up with Val and Rick at Bradbury this morning for a New Year's Day run. The parking lot was empty, and completely covered with ice, when I arrived a few minutes before 9am. In fact, everything was ice-covered! We decided to hit the east side on 'Mindy's loop' and hope for the best. Val took the lead, and we tiptoed along the ice-encrusted trail, trying to avoid the extra slippery rocks and roots. I think it took us 30 minutes to run the first 2 miles!

Luckily, after a bit, with the sun rising and the temps warming, and just the changing trail as we ran along, we were able to pick things up a bit, but not much! It was slow-going for sure, but a great morning to be out. The sky was blue, there was no breeze, the woods sparkled as the sun hit the ice, and I was in good company. It was fun to catch  up, and we chatted away as we ran along, leaving footprints in the leaves as our screw shoes kicked up bits of ice. In the last few miles, things were melting steadily and the trail was nice and tacky. We ended up with 8 miles in 1:48, and came back to find the parking lot filled with cars! I guess others had decided that going to the Brad was a good way to start off the New Year too :-)

Val and Rick had to run a few errands before a friend arrived, so we went our separate ways, and I met Ryan and Sam at the Fresh Batch for lunch. A good way to start 2012 for sure!

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2012 Race Ponderings

Now that we are into the New Year, and into my quiet season at work, I have a few extra days a week to play with - hurray!! I've decided that I'm going to use those days to get in some good miles, along with do some organizing up in the loft getting Ryan's office set up. I'm hopeful that I can get in some quality long runs over the next few months, with the idea of doing the 50 miler at Pineland in May. I don't think I'll sign up yet, just in case, but that is what I am going to be shooting for with my training. I've been pondering a 50 for a while now, but the timing needed to be right. While training long through the winter will have its drawbacks, it should allow me to get in most of my long runs during the week when Sam is at daycare and I am not at work. That way I won't have to sacrifice too many of our Sundays - the one day we are all together - or run too much on Mondays, when I have Sam at home with me and Ryan is working. I am hopeful it will work out OK. I guess we'll see how it goes :-)

So, the 50 miler is my big goal. Other than that, I am signed up for Ryan's Bradbury Snowshoe series, and my new Dion snowshoes have been ordered! That should be an adventure :-) Hopefully we'll get some snow soon! I'll also be running the Mid-Winter Classic 10 miler in early February. I think with those four races, that will be more than enough racing for the winter.

Summer racing will likely be limited to the Bradbury Trail Running series, and then I'm pondering whether I want to try running the Maine Marathon in October, or if I'd want to go back and run Pisgah again. Or maybe Stonecat. Or a combination of the above :-) Again, I guess we'll just have to see how the year progresses, but it's always fun to look at race calendars and scheme!

Mostly, I'm looking forward to a good year of running and spending time on the trails!