I arrived in Cape Cod last night. The ride up was tumultuous at times but when I finally arrived, the scene resembled a snow globe. Along the sides of the road, giant trees were weighted down with snow as if they were bowing to the might and power of Father Christmas or Old Man Winter.
I decided to head out for a run in the morning as we were expecting another inch or so of wintery mix. It had already snowed 8 inches the previous night and sidewalks were nonexistent. I sauntered out of the house and shuffled along the snowy road. I wanted to take it easy. The last thing I wanted to do was slip on black ice or stumble in some slush and relapse (hip). I headed out to the main road and hugged the shoulder…or what was left of it. In fact, there was only about 3 inches of shoulder space. I got off the main road as soon as I could and made my way along the shore to a boardwalk that juts out into a salt marsh (pictured is the boardwalk in the summer). 
The run was fairly pleasant. The roads were runnable and the temperature hovered around 30. It was really beautiful; a winter wonderland. The beach grass was the first green I had seen since arriving. I stopped at the end of the boardwalk, which I usually do, and took it all in. Bufflehead ducks bobbed past the dock and then snow began to fall and hit the frigid ocean. I had wasted enough time here so I turned and headed back. Immediately I was hit by a stiff wind and snow flurries. The squall started early and it was coming from the southeast. Mariners here call weather from the east, “the beast from the east”. Whenever wind blew from the east, it was no good. I hunched over and lunged forward into the weather. This was good (mental) practice for the USATF XC race in February. I labored down the boardwalk and then dipped down a snow covered dirt road which ran into a wooded trail. I followed cross country ski tracks through the middle of the snowy woods. You could actually hear the snow fall. By the time I exited the trail the snow began to fall pretty hard. I did some loops around some neighborhoods and in doing so picked up the pace. I hammered some low 6:00 miles through the driving snow and wind and again thought about USATFs. As I finished the run the snow was turning to sleet…and then rain. Glad I got it in when I did. I ran a little under 13 and finished the week with my magic number of 70 miles. I had hoped to get a workout in next week, but with the snow, I’m not sure if that will be possible.
The run was fairly pleasant. The roads were runnable and the temperature hovered around 30. It was really beautiful; a winter wonderland. The beach grass was the first green I had seen since arriving. I stopped at the end of the boardwalk, which I usually do, and took it all in. Bufflehead ducks bobbed past the dock and then snow began to fall and hit the frigid ocean. I had wasted enough time here so I turned and headed back. Immediately I was hit by a stiff wind and snow flurries. The squall started early and it was coming from the southeast. Mariners here call weather from the east, “the beast from the east”. Whenever wind blew from the east, it was no good. I hunched over and lunged forward into the weather. This was good (mental) practice for the USATF XC race in February. I labored down the boardwalk and then dipped down a snow covered dirt road which ran into a wooded trail. I followed cross country ski tracks through the middle of the snowy woods. You could actually hear the snow fall. By the time I exited the trail the snow began to fall pretty hard. I did some loops around some neighborhoods and in doing so picked up the pace. I hammered some low 6:00 miles through the driving snow and wind and again thought about USATFs. As I finished the run the snow was turning to sleet…and then rain. Glad I got it in when I did. I ran a little under 13 and finished the week with my magic number of 70 miles. I had hoped to get a workout in next week, but with the snow, I’m not sure if that will be possible. Tomorrow the low will be 28 and the wind will gust to 50 mph. Damn, wish I had remembered to bring my good gloves home with me!
1 comment:
Low tomorrow am in DC is forecast as 19/ feels like 4. It will be ugly here as well.
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