A really wet, sloshy, snowing, cold run

Today I had six miles on the schedule for running.  As I woke up, this is what it looked like outside.

Right outside my home

It's hard to tell in the picture,  but it was snowing fairly good.  I figured I have not gone for a run yet in a really good snowfall or when there was already snow on the ground so what the heck, I'll go for it and see what it's like.  This was about 9:30am in the morning  The snow coming down was a really wet, sloshy snow.  Basically, it's the kind that goes everywhere when you step on it especially when you are running. 

When I started out, it kind of felt like I was running on pillows because I'm so used to the hard concrete as I start my run.  As I got into it, while it was not that slippery, it was wet.  One thing that was nice is that it was only 34 degrees out so I wasn't freezing like I was earlier in the week.  I'm not sure what's worse - running in wet snow or freezing my butt off.  I actually think for this kind of snow, I would pick the freezing part because at least you are not worrying about trying to keep your footing the whole time you are running.  As I got through about half my run, I actually saw footprints of other people that had already been outside.  I thought who would be crazy enough to be outside in this weather? Oh yes, me the idiot.  It's kind of funny running in this weather because as cars are passing you and looking at you, you can just hear what they are saying.  Is this guy crazy?  What is he doing?  Doesn't he own a treadmill or belong to a gym?  One guy even tried to drive on the sloshy part to get me soaked but I was about 10 feet from the road so he missed me by about two feet.  As I got to about four miles, I saw new footprints.  This time the stride was long enough that it had to be a runner because nobody would be able to walk like that.  It gave me a little motivation to keep going knowing that there was someone else out there too(although I didn't see anyone)  I got through five miles of my run and started to see footprints again but they were mine!  I finished up the last mile of the run and ended about 1/4 mile from my home.

My footprint!

While it was a fun run considering that I have not done a run in this kind of weather before, I would have to say that if this is the way it's going to be throughout winter, I might opt for the treadmill.  I'm thinking if the snow had been not so sloshy, it would have been better to run in.  My shoes were absolutely soaking wet throughout!  Good thing I'm rotating between four pairs right now.  Believe it or not, I have not had a run where I needed to put newspaper in them after my run but I sure needed to on this run.  It is still snowing here and it's 2pm and it's coming down pretty good - stronger than when I ran so I guess I'm glad that I went out and did it in the morning.  Now I'm going to have to shovel today. :(  Fortunately, I'm not going to be doing a run tomorrow since it's my crosstraining day so I'll be inside and it's great timing too because it's supposed to be back to 15 degrees with a real feel temp of MINUS 8 degrees!  Here's another picture of the snow coming down.  You can see it much better on this one.

Sloppy Snow!

This is the kind of snow I was running through.  As you can see, it's very wet and goes everywhere when you step on it.

More Sloppy Snow!

When I got back, my daughter took a picture of me.  My running jacket was quite wet but it's still kept me really warm.  Also, my wool socks kept my feet nice and warm even though they were soaking wet.

After a wet snowy run!

It's hard to tell from the picture but my daughter said I had icicles hanging from my eyebrows!  You can see my jacket was quite wet.  It is water resistant but not water proof but it kept me warm and that was all I was worried about.

Completely unrelated to running, yesterday we also went to the Henry Ford museum.  For those of you who have never visited Detroit(and you really should at least come for the Detroit Marathon), this is a great museum and we are lucky to have this in our backyard.  While, I took too many pictures to put up here, here a few of the highlights of the tour.

Part of a model T

Chair President Lincoln was killed in

A little sleigh ride

George Washington Carver - a scientist

Huge Christmas tree

Huge plane!

The car that started it all!

A trail car that was made for Henry Ford and only used once!

Picture with Santa - try getting an 11 & 13 year old to do this!  No lines!

One another note, here's my training recap for the week:

33 miles total for the week.(all outside)
- 25 miles running
- 8 miles on the bike
- two strength workouts

A few more weeks and I'll be starting the marathon training.  Yahoo!

Have a great day, stay warm and.......Keep running!