The run that almost didn't happen

My office has a few "floating" holidays which we are allowed to take on the traditionally observed day or any other day we choose. Emma had to work on President's Day/Washington's Birthday so I opted to work that day too and take today (Thursday) off instead so I could run with Emma on her day off. The original plan, before we knew about the nasty weather that descended upon us last night, was to go out to Bradbury and do a 16 mile run. When we learned that we were supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow overnight we decided to do an Erik* and run multiple laps of Back Cove. Certainly not the most interesting run but the BC is usually quite reliable even after a storm.

Not so much. I'm guessing we got about 4 inches of snow before the rain started, and then we got enough rain to turn that snow into 2 inches of slush. It was not fun to run in. After less than 1/2 mile we turned around and headed back to the car. We've both run through some pretty horrific conditions in our time but the idea of doing 16 miles in this crap was unbearable. So we went back home, put on dry shoes and clothes and headed to Maine Roasters Coffee in Falmouth for a run on the roads in hopes that they would be in better condition.

The roads were in better condition but still not good. The rain was falling steadily and the sides of the road were either covered in slush or puddles. We just gritted our teeth and got on with it. Once we got a few miles out of the way we were warmed up and got used to the conditions so it didn't seem all that bad.

I intentionally planned a long route that had several bail out points along the way in case we wanted to cut it short but we passed each of these by without much consideration. When Emma is following a training schedule nothing will stop her. After 8 miles headed north into a driving rain and headwind it was a relief to turn around and head back south to Falmouth. By this time the rain had turned to snow and was falling fast enough that it soon piled up in the road.

The uphills were a little slippery and sluggish but overall we maintained a pretty good pace considering the weather and even managed to pick it up for the last mile. Granted it was downhill but we were pleased to run our fastest mile of the day (7:45) for the last one. Immediately upon finishing we went inside the coffee shop for a few big mugs of dark roast to warm up from the inside out.


time: 2:16:24
distance: 16.24
pace: 8:23

weather: 35 degrees, constant rain and/or snow

conditions: wet, puddly, slushy, snowy, messy roads

gear: Brooks Cascadia 3, wool socks, short tights, t-shirt, long sleeve top, gloves, baseball hat, headband


* During his training for the 2008 VT100 Erik ran 14 laps of Back Cove in one day (50+ miles)