I got to run again today.

While the winds were right out of the North and the temps were a bit nippy, I knew that I would run this morning and didn’t procrastinate getting started. However, I did forget to do my pre-run stuff until I was already out on the road.

Even though I had planned for 7.0 miles, I changed that to 3-4 before going out the door. My walk with Bennie let me know that I didn’t want to be outside that long. The wind chills were not in a fun range.

Also, I had decided that I would run down to Bartlett, which meant going through down-back. After yesterday’s experience in my Meraki’s down there, I decided that my Santiago trail shoes would be a better choice.

The first mile was against the wind, and getting a feel for my footing once I hit the dirt road. While the shoes were able to dig in most of the way, in a few spots, there was white ice and some frozen slush that had been driven over and was tough to get traction. Even the little bump before the 1.0 mile split felt like a mountain this morning due to the lack of traction.

The second mile wasn’t much different than the first one, pace-wise. Although coming up, that little hill from Tiffany was tough. Difficult enough that I stopped at the top to take some photos – well, that is the excuse I gave myself. The real reason was I could feel the heart-rate was a bit too high, and when that happens, I prefer to shut things down to be careful. That lack of traction combined with going uphill just wasn’t a good combo this morning.

Mile three has Stevens Hill in it, so the pace was slow, but I made it no problem. I remembered that I had to shorten the stride and increase the cadence. When I did those things, climbing the hill was a lot easier than the one on Tiffany.

Choosing to run in the Santiago’s was the right choice. They provided excellent traction in some pretty tricky areas, and if I had worn my Meraki’s, I would have been more likely to had a close encounter with the road. They will never be a fast shoe, but they will be reliable and help keep me upright.

One of those runs where you are glad you did it, and just as happy I finished.