Rumors of doom abound with the Great Blizzard of February 2010 here on the East Coast. In preparation, basically everything closed before the first snow flake fell. There were/are a lot of expectations of this snow, but about 5 hours after the first flake was seen, I'm umimpressed. However, ask me again tonight, or tomorrow morning, or tomorrow afternoon when the snow is still supposed to be falling....
However, in anticipation of record snowfalls (forecasting 18-24 inches), I did my long run today (Friday) instead of tomorrow (Saturday). I wore my shoes with screws (again) and went on the W&OD trail. I was getting tired of running on my local side streets, and the other paths were very choppy with ice. Of course, so was the W&OD, but it was fun nonetheless. I did an out and back for 10 miles at a 9:11 pace, which included a walk for 2-3 minutes at the half-way to eat a GU and walk up a steep part of the trail. I had no pain in my feet nor my knees, although I felt my hip flexors at about mile 8, but that was probably because I was at mile 8 (double my longest run in over a week).
There was a lot of ice in spots and clear sailing in others. I only slipped when I was on hard ice (with no snow around it) -- and my slipping, I mean a short slide of less than one inch on the ice (no falling involved). I think the screws are wearing down on my shoes, particularly on the heel. Upon post-run inspection, I noticed that the screws in my heels are pretty rounded, with no sharp corners. When I can make it back out to Home Depot, I'll buy some more screws. I do say, I'm putting a lot of new miles on my old shoes, and I expect to take another pair of old running shoes and modify them to run on snow/ice next winter (I do think that the excess pressure where the screws are are breaking down the rubber faster in those isolated areas).
Keep your run on!
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