... is so much fun! After a last bit of mountain-trip shopping at Midwest Mountaineering today I decided to head out to Afton for a few hours on the trails. It was a fabulous run. The snow was packed but not hard or icy. Started out with the snowshoe loop, back to the car for water, then followed the race course for several miles down around the loop at AS#1 and back up on the open prairie. Cold but no wind at all. Perfect conditions for a winter run. Back to the car again for water and a few clif blocks and then the snowshoe loop again. Ended up running for 2.5hrs so I'm guessing around 15 miles or so. Felt good though I'm having a few issues with right heel and ankle area. Not really painful but definitely some tenderness there.
Today's run ended the week at 42 miles, the most since IM in November, after getting in a nice 2hr run in much different conditions on Friday. I was in Sligo for the day after a few days work in Galway. Weather wasn't the best with a mix of hail, rain, wind and sun - sunny showers as the weatherman would say. But the views more than made up for it... ran from the pretty seaside town of Strandhill into Sligo town and back, with a detour up towards Knocknarea on the return leg. Despite the overcast day the views of Sligo Bay and across to Ben Bulben were fabulous. Ended up at 14 miles and felt like I was keeping a decent pace for most of it.
Finished off the weekend with a swim this evening. Tanya and Pam were in the pool also so the time flew by. And the cold water felt great after today's run.
