19 Miles on the Road

I'm tired of running while cold. I'm tired of running in the dark....tired of frozen bottles, frozen Camelbak tubes, cold fingers, hand warmers gone cold.

I'm really tired of 23 - 34 degree temperatures. It's too cold to run shirtless and stay warm; it's too warm to wear wool and running pants. At these temps, I'm constantly taking off clothes and putting them back on. Are you tired of me complaining?

Yesterday morning, I slept in a little for a morning run and started out the door at 6:30. The sun was just coming up, so I left the headlamps at home. The last few runs, my head and the headlamps have not been good bed fellows; they've slid off, bounced too much, been too dim, and last week at Afton the headlamp just popped right off the band.

I ran north from home on one of my favorite road routes. Just north of Square Lake, as the road descends to Nason Hill Road, one of the most beautiful views opens up and overwhelms me each time I see it. West on gravel, and then up Old Guslander Trail to get into Marine.

At the top of Old Guslander, there are two options: straight ahead and down the long hill into Marine or right and into the infamous Jackson Meadows. Since I needed to add 1/2 mile to make it an 18 miler, and, since the rebellious side of me wanted to see if someone would stop me at the front entrance, I opted for the road to the right. Running past stark white, faux Norwegian farm houses, completely dark on the inside (OK, it was 8am), I wondered why they allowed a sweaty, fashion-handicapped runner meander through the covenant-ridden promised land. Needless to say, I survived; and put in more than the extra 1/2 mile!

In order to run the last 10 miles home, I resorted to listening strictly to U2. Most of it was glorious. The last 2 miles were not.

Liquids froze from mile 6 to mile 8. I froze from 7 to 8.

While I am running much slower, I am enjoying running so much more.

19.43 miles
3:23:03
10:27 min/mile