Winter Finally Arrived for a Snowy Run

Friday afternoon I came out of a meeting and looked to the windows at the front of my building.  Things looked a little different but I wasn't sure what was going on until my coworkers started talking about how much snow was accumulating.  Somehow I had totally missed that snow was possible in the forecast!

The afternoon flew by as coworkers started to hustle home and by the time I was finally ready to head out, the road outside my building was a parking lot.  I hung out for a little while later and luckily my commute home wasn't too bad.  Unfortunately the city had decided that the weather did not look favorable for Saturday morning and they announced fairly early in the afternoon that the activity center would be closed on Saturday and thus our training group cancelled.

Our coach Mike posted that he would meet any who wanted for a run at 7AM from the square and so it was easy to motivate myself to head out on Saturday morning.  I got out my Yak Trax and began the trek up to the square.  It was pretty awesome to be the first one on the trail and be the one setting the tracks into the snow. I love snow runs...there is something just so peaceful and beautiful about running in snow.

I made it to the square at 7AM and lucked out in that the route was back towards home meaning I wouldn't have to rerun Crystal Bridges Hill again! We spread out and there were a few ladies behind me chatting away.  It took about a mile to get some separation between us so that I could be back in that quiet snowy solitude.  Normally I'm social on a group run but a snowy run seems to turn me into a big introvert.

I had some math challenges on this run...my Garmin was slow to sync up at the start so I started it a little way into my run.  My watch was behind my actual mileage which I just couldn't figure out.  I guessed at where my turn around should be and stopped to take a few pictures of some of the other runners to share on FB.  I also had to take a comparison shot of the trail showing what it looked like when it was just me on the trail versus after the Rush Running crew had passed through! We almost plowed the snow down there were so many footprints in the trail!

As I ran up the final hill to my neighborhood I noticed that my hair had frozen solid where it was outside of the beanie.  It cracked me up! I also noticed a perfect little snow ball attached to my shoe.  I'm not sure where it came from but it accompanied me for quite a bit of the 6.5 miles!

If you are nervous about running in the snow, here are some things to consider...
1) Yak Trax or True North will help you with traction.
2) Dress in layers and consider a shell jacket if it's still snowing.
3) Wool socks - I recommend Balega Trail Buster Quarter with wool
4) Leave your music at home and enjoy the sound of the snow...have FUN!!!