More Miles Than Degrees

Well, that wasn't too hard this morning, ha :) Only 2 degrees when I headed out the door at around 8:00 am. Brrr! I had on a pair of fleece tights with long underwear over them, three layers on top, including two with a hood, wool socks, hat and thick ski gloves. Actually I ended up being quite comfortable, especially as there wasn't much wind and I was in the woods for most of the loop. I ran a modified Snowplug 50k loop, choosing to skip the hill at the beginning and go the "regular' way out to Mountain Road.

Along the Heath, I heard the maniacal laugh/scream of the Pileated Woodpecker, and managed to see it flying off in the distance. Lots of animal prints too. I'm sure all these animals are out wearing the same paths the rest of the year, but it's always neat to see their routes in the snow. I ran down to the river, where the traffic thinned a bit as I wandered along its bank. Along the Rapids Loop, I stopped to watch the water roar over and down the rocky waterfall. In this cold weather, the flowing water had built up to create what looked like big mounds of frozen foam. Huge icicles hung off the rock edges. Beautiful. Add in the quiet woods and the snow-covered pine trees, and it was like a winter wonderland out there. The footing was decent for the most part, although the hill up to the field was a strange texture - loose, dry snow atop semi-frozen sand and a thick layer of hoar frost, which basically meant I fell through the crust a lot, slipping and sliding around. Took the back dirt road and the powerlines home, where I saw a red-tailed hawk being chased by a group of crows. Got in a nice 6.25 miles in a little over an hour.

After a quick shower, we headed downtown for what else but donuts, and a bit of shopping. Then Ryan and Sam took off on their own shopping adventure, while I wandered over to Frontier to meet Amy for lunch. We had a good time chatting and eating away. When you can't run together, eat together :-) Always good to catch up with a good friend, on or off the trails. All in all, a great morning!