I went 9 miles today and decided to run up to the reservoir. It was colder this morning so any mud would be frozen. There was a fresh layer of powdery snow about 1/2 inch deep from last night and it wasn't too slick where there was frozen ground underneath but it was very slick anywhere that there was ice underneath. When I got too my turnaround point up by the lake I had the thought too go down and run back on the ice on top of the lake. I went down and tried it and it was actually easier running than the snow and ice covered road had been. We just saw the movie 127 Hours about Aron Ralston Last week, where he gets his hand trapped by a boulder and has to amputate his own arm to survive then has to climb and hike another 8 miles down the canyon [A canyon that we were actually down hiking in last spring] to save himself. I have been reading his book [Between a Rock and a Hard Place] the last couple of days and I'm about half way through it.My mind today on my run had been dwelling on his numerous outdoor life and death outdoor survival stories from his book. It got me thinking a lot about 3 or 4 possible life and death situations that I have had in the mountains over the years and how I would write about them and thinking about a lot of the details that I still remember. So of course as I was running across the ice on the lake with my imagination all fired up I started thinking about breaking through the ice and how most days there probably wouldn't be anybody coming through there all day. And then if I could get myself out of the water how tough it would be to make it the 3 miles down to the nearest house while being completely soaked with temps in the low 20s. It was kind of fun envisioning all of this but it actually started making me a bit nervous even though I knew the ice was plenty thick. So I at least started running closer to the bank where I figured if I did break through I could at least touch the bottom.I knew it was silly but it made me feel better. I was taking it pretty easy today and my miles with good footing I was averaging around 8:30 pace but I know I was around 9:30 pace on some of the snowier miles. Overall ave pace was 8:55. It's a good book and movie. I'd recommend both.
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