Christmas Eve Run

This morning, I wanted get in 5.0 miles and knew that if I waited too long that the little snow/rain/sleet storm that was supposed to come through would make it miserable. I had planned on getting out at 9:00 or so, but due to a lot of things I made it out until after 10:00 AM.

The winds were out of the south at 10 mph with some gusting, so all the way out it was in my face, which I am not crazy about at any time, especially when it is cold out, but at least at 36*F, it wasn’t freezing. 

Initially I had thought about doing the Middle Road Loop, even though it is slippery down-back. I figured that as long as I went slow, no biggie. However, once I got on Shepard Road, the amount of traffic and how bad the shoulders still were made up my mind to turn around at the Fire Station and head back into Pepin Way.

I don’t mind running on the shoulder of the road, but when the shoulders are still mostly ice from last week and with snow/freezing rain on its way – discretion was an apt choice. At least the roads were clear to run on when there wasn’t traffic around.

It just meant that I had to run back up “The Bitch.

Oh well, running that hill is just part of where I live, even though I do avoid it when I can. Errr most of the time.

I ran well down in Pepin land and then coming back up the Bitch, I actually felt pretty good. I maintained a nice pace and didn’t feel completely like crap when I got to the top. I even picked it up a little the last 200 yards, not a sprint, but faster than I have been doing lately…it felt good to run a little faster for a change

Overall, it was a run that I was very happy with.

Oh yeah, as I reached for the door handle to go inside, the first snow flakes started to come down. So I just beat the snow, we only got about an inch or so, just enough to make things white for tomorrow and mess the roads up a little more when it turned to rain before it stopped.

As I wrap up, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it and Happy Holidays to those who do not. It is time to reflect on what we can do to make this little blue marble a better place or at least our little section of it a little better than it was yesterday. If everyone did that then a lot of little changes can make it a better place for all of us.