Monday, January 23, 2012

A Slog

Date: 01/22/2012
Route:   Hines Park 6 Miler
Distance: 5.5 Miles
Pace: 10:55/mile
Temp: 22 with a wind chill of 12

I knew this was coming.  All winter long, my runs have been great. The weather has been very cooperative. Not today. We received about 3 inches of snow on Friday night, and none of it had melted. The JD clan had even visited the Plymouth Ice Festival on Saturday. This was a workout in and of itself, as we pulled the wagon with CE in it to Downtown Plymouth and back (about 1.5 miles). Here are some pics of me pulling the wagon and at the ice festival with CE.



So of course I took off on a planned 6 mile run. Cold was not an issue, in fact for most of the run I was caught in that zone where you are really to warm, but you cannot cool off because you would freeze. All of my Northern friends would be familiar with this feeling while shoveling.  While I was running I kept noticing that my feet were very toasty warm, and I could not figure out why. I was also experiencing some foot irritation, which did not make sense at all. I was basically running in snow about 2-3 inches deep, with a couple of footprints in it.

Around mile 4 of this run, I came to a section where the sidewalk I run on is right next to a busy road. This was a disaster. All of the cars driving had thrown up about 3 more inches of slush on top of the snow. So for about 3/4 of a mile I was running through 4-5 inches of snow./slush mix. I say running, but the more accurate description would be slogging. Every foootfall pushed piles of snow around and I had no grip at all. How I managed to run that mile in 11:32 is beyond me. I needed snowshoes or skis.

After that section, I had to take a walking break. I suppose it was a great workout, my muscles certainly felt that way. After walking about a half mile, I finished up the run, still on slippery sidewalks with plenty of snow. When I returned home, I realized why my feet were so warm but also irritated. I had ran in REI hiking socks! By accident in the rush to get out the door I had not changed into running socks. While warm, they definitly irritated my feet. I DO NOT recommend running in hiking socks.

Man was I wiped out by this run. Has anyone out there ever experienced something similar, an unexpected obstacle in an otherwise normal run?
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3 comments:

  1. RaquelitaJanuary 24, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    I think all runners occasionally have slogs and sometimes come up against unexpected obstacles - getting lost, paths being blocked by road work, bad weather, blisters. We keep running because it makes the runs where nothing stands in our way all the better.

    I hope your feet heal up quickly!

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    1. JD @ run-thru-life.blogspot.comJanuary 24, 2012 at 12:37 PM

      The feet are healing up nicely! Thanks for the encouragement, it was an especially tough run. I don't think anyone likes to run the final 2 miles with soaking wet feet when the air temp is 22.

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  2. Rosiecat24January 24, 2012 at 1:37 PM

    Oof, that run sounds like a slog. Last year, I had to run one of my long training runs in pouring rain, and that was one soggy run! I was so happy to be done with it, though I admit that running in the rain can have its charms. I would just rather run SHORT runs in the rain rather than hour+ runs.

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