The Frozen Fox

PHOTO - a red fox that evidently fell through the ice and subsequently froze last week in Sweden.

It be cold outside and warm temperature don't seem to be in our forecast. We're experiencing what some suggest is our second polar vortex of the year and it makes running momorable, to say the least.

I forgot to post an update last week, but the headline is that I'm running a little bit more every week, but I'm leery of running too much since I still feel my knee sometimes.

On Tuesday, January 14, I ran 7.5 down and around Tilden

On Wednesday, I only ran 5, because I felt my knee acting up early on in the run. Better safe than sorry.

On Friday, I got in 8.5.

On Saturday, I ran a solo 5 from The Line. For some reason I felt incredibly tired.

On Sunday, I ran at Riley's Lock with PMurph. I got in 11.5, my longest run since coming back.

37.5 for the week.

I took Monday, MLK Day, off since I had already run 3 days in a row. 

On Tuesday, before the storm hit, I got in 7.5. Almost immediately after the run I began to feel a cold coming on. I stayed home from work (it snowed anyways) and rested up.

I decided to NOT run the next two days, because conditions outside were downright nasty, but also because I was feeling...downright nasty.

On Friday, I ran a very frigid 9.5 miles with Scott Koonce. The temperature outside was 3 when we started, but the windchill made it feel under 0. I was fairly warm throughout the run, but my cheeks took a beating.

On Saturday, I ran a moderate 7.5 miles in/around Tilden.

On Sunday, I met Outlaw, Charlie, Dix and PMurph up at Sycamore Landing for some distance on some roads, which were absent of snow and see seldom traffic. It was about 19 degrees when we started, but thankfully it was sunny and not windy. The route had us traversing giant farms. In fact, the snow capped fields and ranches made it look more like North Dakota than Maryland. We started out easy, but by mile 4 we began to pick it up. There are a few hills throughout the run, and in these temperature, the extra effort literally took my breath away. After we "conquered" the hills, we were comfortably running 5:55 pace. By mile 9 I was struggling to stay with Charlie and Dix. Each time our trio hit a hill our pack exploded...only to slowly regroup over the next 1/4 mile. Then, we'd repeat the process with similar results. By mile 11, I was laboring, but did my best to stay comfortable. When all was said and done, I was pretty beat - I covered the middle 10 miles (of 14) in 61:00 - and longed for food. On the way out of the parking lot, a large coyote bounded through the snow in front of us. It's the second coyote I've seen in Maryland (the first one I spied was just a few months ago), so that was coooool.

38.5 miles for the week.