my own little fat ass 50k

so saturday i did my own little fat ass 50k on wildwood...

i started out the day fairly early getting up at 5:45 and making some tea and eating some breakfast. i knew this would be a "solo" day as my training budy was running a trail marathon this day.

on the 40 minute drive to the trailhead, it started to snow. very cool. we don't get snow here much ever. i was glad i brought extra clothes as i hate being cold when running. i tend to overdress, as i hate being cold. that is why training in the winter is a difficult thing for me.

i just heard Tom Petty, singing a song with the words, "running down a dream" on the Superbowl halftime show. that pretty much says it. i have the carrot out in front of me and i don't mind putting in the work, cold or not...

i started of the day to mentally do 26 miles. but as the snow continued, hey why not do a 50k? afterall, i had no where to be and i had enough water and food to do it.

so, there it was, me running through 3 inches of the new stuff, no other tracks on the trail but mine. solitude, quiet, oh, this was fun.

i was running slow but that pretty much says how most of my runs are. but i was enjoying this day. i wasn't cold. i was moving forward. it was quiet but blissful actually.

the farther i got north on the trail, the more snow there was. very cool.

but i would see a half a dozen others later in the day. four of them in shorts!!! ok, they were running shorter i figure, they were carrying no water and running very fast. the other two were running slower and i would see them 2-3 hours later going the opposite way on the trail. really a quiet day for me on this trail.

i knew i was running slowly, as there were sections of 2-3 miles that all i did was run, duck for low branches, run another 75 feet, do it all again. i also witnessed multiple branches coming down right in front of me from being too weak to hold the weight of the snow and ice, come crashing down. i was happy not to be underneath these. i won't call them "widow makers" as i know what those are living near a logging community many of my life.

the day ended less than desirable. the temps went up, the snow started to melt, and all i was running through was puddles of snow melt. my feet were frozen!!! reminded me of capital peak runs!!! i was even contimplating on getting gortex shoes following this run.

i was happy to finish. i immedietly got into some dry clothes and ate my protein. sipped on a cold cup of tea on the way home.

the hot shower was wonderful. a nice cup of hot tea and tuna steak and broccoli was the reward. this was a good run to just enjoy something with the snow we don't get around here very often.