Ice Ice Baby

Sometimes I question my choices 😂  but the run got done! 😃

I made a quick trip to the grocery store right when they opened at 7:00 am to pick up a few items needed for tomorrow, and thankfully it was easy peasy. This also gave me a chance to check out the roads, which are, as suspected, very messy... Ah well... Then after getting the beds ready and doing a quick clean of the house in preparation for Irene and Dana's arrival today instead of tomorrow due to the storm, I headed out around 9:00 am. Temps were hovering around 30 degrees so it was fairly pleasant but conditions were, well, variable. The high school road was a thick sheet of ice that my screwshoes barely gripped into; the powerlines were crunchy, icy unevenness; Highland Green Road was fine but messy, slushy and wet; and the back dirt road had a thin ribbon of icy tire tracks to run in.

Icy brush along the powerlines

Winterberries encased in ice

My plan was to run loops of the road but when I got halfway around the loop I couldn't resist checking out the trail down to the river. There had been a fair amount of snowshoe traffic before yesterday's storm and things were at least mostly packed with a bit of snow and ice on top so I decided I'd rather run the trails for a bit, even if a bit more work, before returning to the road. Some stretches were decent and others were not, but it sure was beautiful out in the woods!

Pancake ice!

Snowy river

Meandering trail

The trail conditions made today's miles feel like a whole lot more than 10 but I'm glad to have gotten them in regardless! (10.1 miles)

Now it's time to do a bit of cooking and relax with everyone for the rest of the day!