Saturday Morning Meander

I simply wasn't feeling it this morning. It's not unusual for me to have a few "down" feeling weeks through a training cycle though, but I feel like the weather this spring hasn't been helping much. Last night when we picked Sam up at Amber's to go to Dick's to pick out new flipflops, it was snowing. And it kept snowing. And there was 2" to 3" solid wet inches of snow on the ground this morning. Gah. I know that just because April hits, it doesn't automatically become all bright and green and warm. But this year, it seems like winter simply won't release its grip as it's been quite cold and windy, and man, it's just getting a bit old! I've always suspected that weather plays a big role in how I'm feeling and boy, it's been rough this week.

But, all that aside, there was mileage to be done, so that is what I did. Oh, I took my time eating breakfast and drinking coffee and hoping for the skies to clear, but it was rather dreary as I headed out the door, which pretty much matched my mood. I didn't feel like the road loop I'd put together on a windy, puddly, slushy, dreary morning so instead I simply wandered. I ran the Canam loop then up over Mt. A. to the cart paths, and into the Cathance. The snow was wet and soft and actually made the ice beneath a bit less of an issue than it had been yesterday, and while I had to tiptoe in some places for sure, but overall, it was decent, if messy. I followed some turkey tracks along the river, ran into two other runners, listened and watched the roaring river, and slipped and slid along. With conditions such as they were, time and pace were out the window and so I just ran comfortably, trying to just enjoy it.

I will admit I had my earbuds in the whole run, listening to several podcasts I had saved up and wanted to listen to, one of which was UltrarunnerPodcast's interview with Brendan from Semi-Rad, another Mario's Morning Shakeout interview with Meb. Meb has such a great story and is just such a good person, it was fun to listen to him, and I was simply laughing out loud through the Semi-Rad podcast. So good. I've really enjoyed running some with the earbuds this winter as a way to listen to some interesting interviews I normally just wouldn't get a chance/have time to listen in on. And while typically, I wouldn't run on the trails with earbuds, today I just needed the extra distraction to keep me moving. Some days, you just have to do whatever it takes ;)

I was having enough fun out on the trails that I decided to go all the way out to Head of Tides, which I hadn't been to in a while. I stopped out there for a bit to eat a snack and watch an osprey fly overhead (first of the season!, so maybe spring really IS going to arrive ;)) before heading back. By that time, the sun had come out and things were getting pretty mushy out there so I didn't prolong my miles in the Cathance but headed back to finish up the cart path loop. Had eight deer run across the fairway and path into the woods in front of me along hole #8, which was a neat sight.

Still more miles to be done, so I looped up and around Highland Green, down to Tedford Rd and up the powerlines, across the street to the Highlands and then a short loop around the high school to even things out ;) Finished up with 20 on the dot. Maybe not the most inspired but it was done and sometimes that just has to do. (20.0 miles)