Building more character.....

10 miles on the schedule this morning.  We ended up doing 12 miles instead.  I decided to run with my new running buddy, Kevin again over at Stony Creek Metropark.  He needed to start running at 7am.  While I'm not one to start that early(I'm more of an 8 or 8:30am guy), my wife has not been feeling well so I got up extra early to run so I could get some errands done today.  It was a bonus that Kevin already planned to run that early.

Here a look at what Stony Creek looks like at 7am:

A snowy Stony Creek

As everyone will probably agree, it's not a good sign when you start your run while the snow plow is there clearing the parking lot!  IT.  WAS.  COLD!!!  I almost never get to Stony Creek when it's dark out.  I brought my headlamp thinking I might need it but ended up leaving it in the car.  The lake and area had a very eery look to it but it was very cool at the same time.  It was actually foggy outside and it was only about 15 degrees.  Thankfully there was no wind.

Since I didn't bring my handheld camera, I left the camera in the car but took a couple quick pictures after our run.  Everything was frozen.  Even the twigs were covered.  I wished I had brought my camera when we were running to get some close ups and unfortunately did not have time after our run to take the pictures I wanted to take to show you guys but here a few:

I got a quick picture of Kevin after the run as well to show you how cold it was outside.  Everything on you just froze as you were running.  It took me six miles to actually feel warm.  Guys that had a goatee or a beard were frozen with icicles.

Kevin's frozen head - note: it was NOT snowing

Our route today - up to the Nature Center, back and then some.

A nice comfortable pace
I'm trying to keep these slower this year so I feel good at the end
Mile 4 & 7 involved some snow running

Some of you may have read what I call these runs - Character runs.  These are the runs we Michigander runners do all winter long that help build character for when things warm up and we get ready to race.  It's not about the speed(thankfully), it's not about the distance - it's about being out there when most will not do it.

It's runs like these that separate the men from the boys or the woman from the girls, so to speak.

Ready for coffee!

So get outside, and off your treadmill, and build some character.  It's more fulfilling that you know.

Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!