“Somebody somewhere is training in this stuff. Are we going to let them beat us?”
Sure. Why not?
Yesterday it rained, then the temperature dropped and it was freezing rain. Nice glaze on everything. Then it turned to sleet, leaving a heavy layer on top of the ice, bonding with it, making a nice gritty ice surface. Overnight the snow began, and it is still falling at midday. I skipped running yesterday because the day before I had a very long slow jog. Today I had to get back out there.
So with every step in the as-yet shallow snow cover, it was crunch, crunch, crunch as I jogged down the now finished loop in the woods. I estimate, with all the loops and curves, it’s roughly 1.5 miles, and finishing with a lap around the intervening street inside the trailer park, that makes it a 2-miler, give or take. That’s enough for an old arthritic man.
Also, parts of the trail offered weak trees and limbs drooping hard under the load of ice, which is some half-inch thick in many places. So it was either duck, push them out of the way, or break things off. In areas where the grass grows tall, it was lots of kicking to break it off where icy bunches arched over the trail.
What was odd was how good traction was in my low-end New Balance trainers. But come pay day, I think I’m going to get something with spikes or cleats for when the trail is wet and muddy. I tend to believe the body is generally designed for anything except good traction. We don’t really need too much cushioning if we run properly. That means not landing on the heel ever while running, but letting the ball of the foot strike first. If I could run in clean sand, I’d run barefoot. But in the woods, what I need is traction and protection from the temperatures, and poking sticks and rocks.
I have always loved running in the snow.
