Wow, is it tough running in the snow. I managed a little over 16 miles in snow at Rockefeller today. It was the slowest 16 miles I ever did and probably the toughest. I was averaging 8:30 min miles in the beginning but quickly ran out of steam at averaged 9:28 by the time I was done. The effort felt harder than 7:20′s. I wound up taking 2:32:37 for 16.13mi. Enough to count as a long run I guess.

There’s absolutely no choice but to go slow to avoid all the ankle twisting and slipping. Not that I wasn’t constantly slipping and twisting my ankles. But, there were still parts that were enjoyable, like the flat areas where the snow melted away on the bridle paths; so that there was no snow. Mostly though, it was just a lot of work to get nowhere fast. I don’t know how others do it.

I wore four layers in anticipation that I wouldn’t be going fast and didn’t want to get cold by going slow, but by the time I was done, I sweated through all four of my tops. What makes this scary is that I’m planning to run with a group on Monday to do 41 miles along the entire OCA in very similar conditions. What I thought would be a nice enjoyable relaxing run for 7 hours with some interesting people will probably turn out to be an all day death march for me. But, I have no choice. It’s not like I can skip it. I already wrote in my planned log for the week in ink. If I used pencil, I could have erased it, but who knew.

16 tough miles in the snow