More Snow Running

It's been a few interesting days of  running.  Saturday there was a break in the cold/snowy/icy weather that has held Boston in a death grip, which made for nice conditions for the run up Heartbreak.  In fact, I haven't sweat so much since I started this training as I did that day.  We hit Comm Ave.  and it was all relentless sun and mid-30s.  I even had to take off a layer, which is also unprecedented.  I felt great and even had some extra energy for the last 3 miles which is a rarity for me, especially considering that I was running by myself pretty much the whole way.  My regular running buddies were doing a different course and I didn't fall in with any random people along the way.  It worked out fine though and I had a great run that was pretty close to the 10 minute mile pace that I want to hit.

Monday was warm again, but it had iced over during the night so there were some definite icy patches along the way.  

Tonight was really great though.  Once again there was all kinds of talk about snow hitting us over night, and once again it actually hit later on in the morning.  We had a steady falling of snow all day, but not so much that the plows couldn't handle it so the Hill Repeat workout went on as planned.  It was coming down for the whole run and pretty soon after the plows went by there was a nice layer of snow, and so I tried the YakTrax again (pictured above left).  These things are really great, and I went from being really worried about slipping and sliding in the damp snow to feeling perfectly stable in no time.  We did 7 hill repeats and I'm just really happy that they've gotten easier.  Hills are a big fear of mine for this race, especially since they kicked my @$$ at the BAA Half-Marathon in the fall.  I gather that we'll be doing 7 for a while, and then 8, 9, and eventually topping out at about 10 a night.  Something tells me that will be a bit monotonous.....

In addition to just generally having a good run, it was great to be out in the city during the snow.  Everything was just beautiful and quiet and the light was awesome.  I would have missed it all had I just gone home; hmmm, I guess I need to add that to list of reasons to run a marathon, getting to run hill repeats in the snow.  

Settling into the week.

So it's Wednesday and I've gotten two of this weeks three runs in before the 12-miler on Saturday, and boy have they been special ones.  As some of you might know we've had some winter weather here in the Hub.  When Bec knocked on the front window Monday at 6:30 in the AM there was a nice layer of ice over every horizontal surface; I don't quite know how she made it down the hill from her house, but the important thing is that she did and so there was no turning back.  We headed out on our usual course the to river, hoping with every treacherous step that we'd hit a patch of sidewalk that where someone had had the foresight to lay out some salt.  We weren't that lucky, even Harvard hadn't thought about that.  We did make it to the river and decided not to attempt crossing the bridge ("Bridges Freeze Before Road", anyone seen that sign?) so we headed along the river on the Cambridge side.  There was a lot of running on the grass next to the sidewalk and stopping to make very deliberate steps, but in the end we made it home the better for having been out in the ice.  

Today we had some warning that conditions would be less than ideal, in fact schools started closing yesterday afternoon even though the snow wasn't meant to start until midnight.  Dawn brought with it about an inch or two of wet snow on the ground, Bec was a little worried about sleet but went out on the porch and decided that it was a great day for a run and texted her to get moving.  It was right around 32 degrees which is a great running temperature, and it was also the perfect opportunity to try out our YakTrax  which are basically like chains for your shoes.  It wasn't sleeting when we left but by the time we hit the river it was coming down pretty well; not ideal for wearing glasses.  We looped around the river and when we hit the Eliot Bridge and the turn towards home I felt good enough to keep going another bridge - an uncommon experience even in the summer - and so we went on to the Weeks footbridge.  Today ended up being a 4.4 mile run with a brisk sidewalk shoveling afterwards.  Nice.

I know they say that you shouldn't run in conditions like this, and I fully admit to the danger, but there's something really fun about it too.  We ran the same courses that we've been running all year (2008 that is) but they were more interesting and fun than normal.  I've always loved being out in the snow and running is just another fun way to experience it.  Also though, I'm in training for a marathon in April, the only way that I can have fairweather training is if I move to someplace warmer, and as appealing as that might be some days, it's not in the cards.  This means that I can't be too choosy with the weather that I run in.  Plus I don't have treadmill or gym membership so I don't have that to fall back on it.  I've made a commitment to the marathon and that means some days I've got to run in sleet, or "sneet" as I've heard the mix called, then so be it.