Thursday, January 31, 2013

January 31

 It has been a strange weather month to say the least,yesterday night I ran in Paris and the temperature was around 14 degrees.I dressed in my sugoi Titan 2in 1 shorts and ready T had a great run and even managed to work up a pretty good sweat.This morning I went for my long run and it was definitely a different day.Negative 4 degrees ,blowing snow and even a few tree branches flying past.I surprised a few small groups of deer while running through some more sheltered spots but even they didn't run away,just looked at me like I was a little off my rocker.
  Last week while running on a crisp negative 14 morning I actually contemplated doing my long run on a treadmill,but then pulled the ice off my eyelashes and realised I'd never make it more than 10 minutes staring at the TV instead of being outside.
  The other oddity I found this week was people decorating trees with small blue and yellow bags,it turns out that on closer inspection they've actually gone through the effort of cleaning up after their dog in the middle of nowhere,only to hang the bag in a tree fore some kind of poop fairy to come along and clean up.You would think if that was going to be the extent of your effort you'd just take a stick and flick it into the shrubbery.I guess from a distance they figured it looked nice.
 Oh well enough ranting on my part, one month of winter running down I've had some great runs and building a nice base for some more serious training. Regardless of the strange weather it has been a good year so far for staying on the trails and I've managed to run with a really diverse group of people so far.Actually looking forward to seeing what else is in store for us before the spring gets here.
A final picture for my friend Gus,last saturday we ran past this set of falls and it was almost completely frozen.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Loving the Snow!!

    I love running in the snow! Usually about ninety percent of my training takes place on some of the same trails over and over,when race season finally arrives I've named hills,trees and even the odd mud hole.whatever it takes to help the miles go by,some of the names are good,some unprintable. The great part about all the snow is these trails suddenly change,every corner looks different and the runs change from being judged by pace to whether or not you can walk at the end.

    The secret to really enjoying snow running as opposed to just staying vertical lies in an old pair of shoes and some sheet metal screws.Without these the unpredictable hidden patches of ice could spell disaster.The downside to these shoes is after falling in love with the Saucony Kinvara TR  these suckers weigh a ton,but I guess that's a good thing for training ,right.


  The other upside to the snow is you can quietly get a lot closer for some great pictures of  the local wildlife.I received a camera for Christmas so should be able to post a few more good pictures to this blog as well.Its hard not to enjoy the changing seasons and how much the trails change as they go by I can't imagine training in a more beautiful area.
  Embrace the snow and go for a run,who says winter needs to bring the blahs.