I'm not sure if I should log these are running miles or not but it was a lot of work so I am going to count them. I needed one of those "clear your head" runs so my intent was to run to Elephant Rock. I didn't realize how much snow there was on the trail. The first little bit was packed snow and I was able to run on it. I then had some sections of just muddy trail and thought that I was in the clear. Shortly after the clear trail, I got into 2 foot deep snow (a little less than 2 miles into the run). I started walking and decided that since my plan was to go to Elephant Rock I was going to keep going until I got there even though I knew it would take a while. It didn't take long for me to realize how stupid this was. I was walking in 2 feet of snow with only running shoes, and shorts. I wasn't cold but since my lower legs were exposed they were getting scraped by the frozen snow when I would break through the snow. I continued on thinking that my destination was just around the corner but I never found it. I got to the 3 mile marker (I never noticed the mile markers before) and thew in the towel. I had another 1/2 mile to go and I wasn't having fun anymore. Coming back down was a lot easier than going up. Once I got to the section where I could run again, my feet were too cold and soggy to maintain a decent pace so I just slogged along. It was an adventure and I'm glad I did it but will be better prepared next time I go. |