Beautiful morning for a run!
I have come to enjoy my runs in the winter…
Running 18 miles on trails that have occasional ice patches is quite exhilarating.
At least that was the case during last week’s run. It was about 18 degrees when we started. ( I run with the DC Road Runners club ( http://www.dcroadrunners.org/ ) )
I discovered that I use all kinds of muscles I never generally use.
One of the downsides is that my water bottles froze by the time I was about half way thought the run… That’s never fun.
On the positive side, though, my gel turns to a frozen, milk-shake like slurpee.
Today it should be sunny and mid 30’s to low 40’s! I’m pretty excited.
12 miles should go by quickly! If you are a runner and you are getting your mileage up, please find a group. Having a group has really enhanced my running experience.
Mid-week runs during the winter are fun as well… Whether I run in the morning or at night, it’s always dark.
This is a bonus if you love the night sky, which I do.
I don’t know how many times I’ve almost run into something because I’m staring up while running… lol
The other morning though, I was running around 5:30 am and I saw the coolest thing in the sky. A very bright star (it appeared), split in half. I had to stop twice to see if I wasn’t seeing double.
I wonder if it was two planets with orbits that had placed them close to each other, or if a planet was passing between earth and that star…
In any event, it was neat, and kept me pondering.
I also learned that morning that hard-packed snow is quite pleasant to run on. It’s very soft, and if you take very short strides (which I do), you don’t have to worry about slipping much.