Notes
Squirrelly Tail Twail Wun recap. (Trail Half marathon) Made poor gear choices went with my trail shoes that leave my arches in agony after 6 miles. Wore bladder system line froze. I didn't think 24 oz hydro quiver was enough water as there was only one aid station. Met Linda said a few brief hellos and then we were off. I got to run with my best friend as we are training for a Spring marathon and thought it was a good idea to get a long run in together. First mile bam right on my ass TWICE! This was an omen of how the day was going to go. First 3 miles was ice and crazy hard pack almo footing just completely uneven and hard. The rest of the way was a lot of loose powder with tons of sliding around. Minor ankle rolls but a quick cadence kept me upright and healthy. The ice and snow in the days leading up had a ton of trees down and the trails were way to small in places.
At mile 5 I cross the bridge and get about a quarter mile into the woods and didn't duck low enough to go under a branch. Bam! Blood everywhere. After debating finish or dnf the decision was made to press on. Bleeding had stopped and the 5 miles back to start didn't seem any worse than 8 to the finish. Plus 2 miles to aid station means volunteers, cars better exit point. We fueled up briefly with some m&m's and some gatorade and pressed on. It was some tough sledding but we managed to gut it out 3:46 later we wrapped up. Winter trail run was exactly as advertised. Personally I was using it as a 3-4 hour time on my feet training run. I got a little more than I bargained for but I am glad I finished and don't think a road marathon is out of reach in 9 weeks. Completely sick of Winter.