Hitting the 2K mark

Missed it in '07 by 60 miles.
Missed it in '08 by 104 miles.

Today,however, I hit 2000 miles for the year- for which I am most heartily grateful. Sickness and injury have played roles in foiling me before- and they've reared their ugly heads this year, too- but I made it. So, yay me!

Anyway, it was an interesting run, even for all that. It was supposed to be 14 miles or two hours, whichever is less- but running at Pontiac, in the snow, is usually always quite slow going.

I did the first 10 in Saucony Razor, which worked quite well. it's a tank of a shoe- vibram outsole, waterproof upper, and water resistant gaiter which let me run through some treacherous terrain without difficulty. heavy, though- mine weigh just about 16 oz, which makes for a hard time when it comes to keeping a cadence in the 90 strides/minute range.

Still, they kept my feet warm and dry, which is a lot better than the alternative. Cold and wet is no fun at all, believe me! But I had a funny realization today- essentially we keep our feet in mittens year round, expect when we wear sandals. Or Vibram five fingers.

Which leads me to the next four miles (well, 3.25 really. I ran both out of time and out of light, neglecting to bring my own). I decided to see if the Vibram Flow that I purchased would really work for winter conditions. The neoprene upper, I thought, would go a long way towards keeping my feet warm. And their light weight would make life easier when it came to cadence.

Anyway, I donned my Vibram flows with Injinji socks and started back down the trail. It helped to have gaiters on, too. and they worked fine, for a while. Up hills was a little tough- even with vibram outsoles, they tended to slip on the snow and ice. But it was really difficult with the puddles. Ice and snow covered puddles, which none the less had a decent amount of water in them.

Soakers are no fun in slippers, especially when the real temp is 20, and the wind chill makes it feel like its about three degrees. it wasn't so bad when I was running, but afterward I felt like my toes were encrusted in ice.

Turns out, they were.

Still, all in all it was a really nice, fun run. I know better now, than to use the five fingers on the bridle trails until they completely freeze over. And the Razor really works well. So... yay!