Winter's Not Always So Bad

This winter I've run in sub-zero wind chills, several times. I've run in snowstorms. I've run in several inches of fresh powder. I've run in snowshoes. I've run on a slush covered frozen lake. I've run through skin-stinging icy snow blasting at me sideways. I've run with sheet metal screws in the soles of my shoes for traction. I've run on solid ice. And, a few times when I just couldn't bring myself to face the cold in the dark of the early morning hours, I've run on (shudder) a treadmill. Enough with the character builders already.

But, today, I actually had one of those runs that makes winter seem not so bad after all. Yep, it was on snow, and it was still undeniably winter. But, the sun was shining. The wind wasn't blowing. It was a very tolerable 30 degrees, or so. And, the several inches of snow on the trails was packed just enough that the footing was not half bad. All things considered, it was a good day.

This was my second time trying out my latest traction gadgets, Kahtoola Microspikes, and they worked like a charm. I was never at a want for traction today. They're certainly no replacement for snowshoes, so the snow needs to be relatively packed down for Microspikes to work well. But, today was perfect for them.

I covered 23 miles on the snow today, 3 hours and 45 minutes worth. In fact, I believe this was actually my longest training run ever, outside of races. And, on snow covered trails to boot. It was a good day.

All that said...I'm pretty much ready for spring now :-)

-Steve