With Snowshoes A-Blazing

I'm not sure if I've said it before, but this recent snowfall has given us an appreciable amount of snow. I'd say we have about a foot in all, even more in drifts. What's a runner to do when the snow falls?

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Thursday Night Run

On Thursday, we got a good amount of snow. They were closing schools left and right, and panic was striking the hearts of people everywhere. At work, parents were worried about their children, manly men were worried about their snowmobiles and everyone was worried about the quantity of beer in the fridge. Hell, I have plenty in my fridge and I don't even drink it.

My main concern was not for the safety of children, readiness of snowmobiles or quantity of beer in the fridge, it was for the attendance of the Thursday Night Run. I sent a reminder out to everyone that nobody in his/her right mind would be out running, so we should wear plenty of reflective gear so drivers would see us. I'm no pansy, I'll run in damn near any weather, especially snowstorms.

Our group consisted of five members, dressed in clothing ranging from fleece-lined snow pants and down jacket to no-show socks, tights and a wind-breaker. I was closer to the latter, but I had my shoes/ankles covered with gaiters. There was a change of venue when the planned restaurant was closed and we moved to the Manhattan Pizza & Brazilian Grill near my house, confirmed that they would be open when we got back, and headed off.

There was no game plan or route picked out, we just ran for a while and meandered through the streets. For those of you who think 8" of snow is the perfect excuse to sit inside I'll tell you that you're really missing something. When you're running down the middle of a snowy road, the flakes are casually drifting to the Earth with only Christmas decorations (and headlamps and streetlights) to guide your way it's truly a Winter Wonderland. You feel like you can go anywhere because there are no roads, lawns or sidewalks, just snow. All in all we ran for about 6.5 miles, then sat down to the best pizza in town. Mmm, mmm, mmmm.

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Friday Night Trail Run

For those of us who had to work on Friday, there would be no getting out before dark. Instead, three brave souls headed into the woods donning snowshoes and head lamps. I have no idea where the trails are, but for the most part we just followed the snowmobile tracks.

After about an hour or so we saw headlamps off in the distance. We were all on the same wavelength when each one of us independently reached up and turned ours off, allowing us to run right up and scare whoever it was. Actually, one woman turned to me in a panic and screamed in a whisper "I can't turn the fucking thing off! Can you find the button?"

Cloaked in darkness we snuck right up on those poor bastards and gave them quite a jump. After a brief "How-do-you-do?" we were on our way. I found that I could manage much better without my light, and navigated from there on out "on instruments" as I called it. The nice thing about running in snowshoes is that the snow is so deep you don't have to watch for rocks or roots or anything, you just run.

All in all we covered about 6.25 miles that night, at a blistering pace of 3 miles per hour. I'll let you do the math. Snowshoe running is tricky because it's easy to overheat, but as soon as you stop the cold sneaks in and chills you right up. You really have to pay attention to not working up a sweat. It's a fine line between being too hot and too cold, and I think I walked it just about right for my first time out.

Tomorrow my new snowshoes should be here. They're designed for running so I should be able to hit the trails with a more natural gait. There's already a plan in the making to get out after work!

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Over and Out,
Old Coot