Snow run = trail run

I got to wear my other new pair of shoes today, earlier than expected. While not really a trail run, I decided that the best shoes for running in the snow today were my new trail shoes. Even the BBC News website was covering the “snow storm” that hit the Northeastern US last night, so I would imagine most people reading this heard about it. Round here it wasn’t that bad – I’m guessing we had about 6 inches or so of the white stuff.

Vivobarefoot Neo Trail

Tread on Neo Trail

I wanted to take my phone with me to take some pictures, but as I was heading out the door I realized the battery was nearly dead, so that didn’t happen. So here’s a shot from the porch which gives a reasonable idea of what it is like around here (now that most roads and paths have pretty much been cleared and the sun has started to melt it a bit).

I decided to head down to the park, and while the sidewalk on the main street was clear, there were some that were still snow covered, but the shoes did well on those stretches. When I got to the park, the path had been partially cleared but was still snow covered (just not deep) and that was pretty good for running on. But then I got further into the park and the paths had been cleared such that there was a thin layer of ice across much of it. I ran mainly along the edge where I could get some traction in some of the snow before deciding to just run on the mostly cleared road (although with plenty of slushy sections).

The far end of the park was more icy and it was getting harder to not slip around all over the place, and I hadn’t really dressed properly – I hadn’t factored in the wind which was pretty strong down in the park, so I decided to turn around and head home.

Given the conditions it wasn’t too bad overall – I somehow managed to run about 4.75 miles in under 40 minutes even with the slippery sections.