Skiing and Running

My original intent for Sunday was to run, but it seemed a shame to waste all the nice new snow, so off to Pinelands we went! The place was packed when we arrived at 1pm, and there were a number of Trail Monsters, including Jamie, Jim, Stephen, James, Jeff and Cacky, out enjoying the skiing, which was unexpected and fun! I took first shift with Sam up in the Visitor's Center, and Ryan headed out with Jamie and Jim for a bit of a skate lesson - Jamie is new to skate skiing but seemed to be doing really well out there! I'm impressed - skate skiing is not easy, let me tell you! While they were out, I fed and changed Sam and after she had had enough of looking out the window, we did a few laps around the market until she fell asleep. She slept through shift change, and I headed out onto the snow for a lap with Jamie and Jim and then a few laps myself. It was a warm afternoon, and wet snow/rain was falling, but the conditions were pretty good, although there were no set classic tracks, so my ankles got a workout attempting to keep me stable as I skied along. I was only out for 30 minutes, but it was fun!

I'm trying to slowly up my weekly running mileage, so today's plan was to run 6 miles for my "long" run of the week. The shoulders and sidewalks around town seemed pretty messy when I was out doing errands this morning with Sam, so I opted to go to the bike path instead for my first bike path run of the winter :-) The wind was at my back for most of the way out, and underneath the gathering clouds there was a thin band of light above the trees along the icy river - very pretty. I added a bit on at the end of the bike path to get to 3 miles before I turned around, and finished the 6 miles in 53:00 for 8:50 pace - hurray! First longer run at under 9 minute pace :-)