Highland Green x2

Motivation has not been super high these days which means that I didn't even manage to get out the door on Tuesday morning, a morning when the trails were clear of snow after the big rainstorm and before Tueday afternoon's snowfall. Aie. I was kind of mad at myself, but in a way it made my decision regarding VT 100 a bit easier. I've been toying with the idea of sitting down with the masses at 7:00 this coming Sunday night and signing myself up for a little while now, but I kept having the same arguments with myself (and Ryan) that I had last January when I decided against VT and went with TARC for my first 100. I just could not get my mind to commit to VT. I was not overly excited, and therefore, I just haven't garnered enough true enthusiasm to really start training.

When Ryan finally said that I should just give it up, I felt fine with it. Yup. VT just isn't for me. I want to want it, but I don't, so nope. This leaves me feeling a little bit sad, as I love the idea of a challenge and not having something big on the calendar just doesn't feel quite right, but honestly, I'm also a bit relieved. I certainly have other running goals for the year, and my plan is to continue to challenge myself in running and racing. Since I didn't quite reach 2000 miles in 2015, I'm thinking 2016 miles, while rather gimmicky perhaps, has a nice ring to it. Or maybe even more ;) Racing-wise, there is April's Grayson Highland 50k, which I'm really looking forward to, and I've signed up for TARC's new to Hale and Back 6 Hour race in March. More Hale? What's not to love ? :) But otherwise, for now, the rest of the year is open. I've been spending a little bit too much time on ultrasignup the past two days pondering what's next, but I have a feeling this will be a year without a 100 unless training really goes well this spring and something truly sparks my interest for the fall. Again, a bit sad about that, but I know I don't have to do a 100 this year. My thinking right now is to find a few "shorter" and different races in new places near home this fall, and then sign myself up for a 100 that I am really excited about next year, which will likely involve some travel and hopefully be a good adventure! 

So, with all of that out of the way, I did manage to get myself out the door yesterday morning. Things were a bit messy with 5" of new snow on the ground, a bit more snow than I anticipated. It was light and fluffy though, but still made for slow going on the powerlines. Highland Green Road had been plowed but was still a bit slick, and they hadn't plowed the back side, so I just went out and back on the pavement. It was cold and windy but I managed to at least keep the pace below 9:30 for the middle 3 miles though.

I had pondered going out on my snowshoes this morning, but honestly, I really like to run in my snowshoes when it is more packed down, so I bailed on that idea and headed out to Highland Green again. This time around, the back side was plowed so I was able to do the full loop. The powerlines might have been even slower than yesterday though, as with all the wind after the storm, the snow had drifted like crazy and it wasn't as easy to consistently run through the snow. But no problem, I wasn't going for any speed records anyway ;) Another cold morning - only 8 degrees this time - but no wind, so not bad. Decent two day "start" to the week, even if a bit late ;)