Notes
Sunny, cold, windy, 24 degrees starting out. The trail had set up but there were a lot of little snow balls from the snow machines that were pretty crunchy and not fun to run on. Tried to stick to the sides which was much better. The Homestead trail looked nice so I took that. It was a pretty narrow singletrack packed down by the snowshoers. It was pretty good running. Had to stop and pee right away, then felt the urge to poop. It didn't go away and I figured it wasn't going to be good. Once at the picnic area, I went back up to the main trail and headed out, prairie dogging it most of the way. When I got to the beaver bridge I had to pee again and knew I better head for the car before it became an emergency number 2 situation. Ran back to the car and drove home to take care of business. Had to change my sweaty shirt and compression shorts before heading back. I ran out the Homestead trail again and headed out. I got 4 miles in the first time and wasn't sure how far I wanted to go. My back felt good, which was great. Legs were a little tired from yesterday's run but my feet and ankles were getting sore from the uneven frozen trail. I knew it wouldn't be 20 today. Took the trail down to Morrow Landing, which was firm but not fun as a deep powder sled had been through and the trail was painfully bumpy. Stopped at the end and sat for a few minutes and had a GU. Ran back up and decided to go out on the Bradford loop and turn around where I did last week. That would give me 5 miles back and about an hour of run time. Went all the way to the entrance of the Deer Path before turning around. Stopped back at the intersection and had half of a PBJ. Once going again I felt pretty good and was moving faster. I hiked most of the steep hill back up to the gate by the turn to the picnic area. Ran down there and snow was starting to soften up in the sun. Stopped and sat at the picnic area for a bit before heading back on the Homestead again. I was going to be over 15.5 once I got back to the main trail so I decided to make it 16. I ran back up the main trail for a ways before heading for the parking lot. Just over 16 finish. Legs and back felt like I could have gone further but my ankles and feet were pretty beat, better to stop before injury. Good run, not as long as I planned but long enough given the conditions. Also I ran back to back days the were pretty long and hard.
Gear: NB tights, short tech T, Brooks jacket, gloves (on and off), head band, water pack