16 tough miles

Since the snow hasn't melted yet and none of the sidewalks are cleared I decided to head down to the Boise Greenbelt for my long run this weekend where some friends said the paths were plowed.  I packed up some extra gloves, a headband to cover my ears in case my new hat didn't work out, and a whole load of water before I left the house.  The temp was still only about 16 degrees when I was heading out the door so I stopped at my local New Balance shop and picked up some additional pants to throw over my tights so I would be quite as cold.  I stayed fairly warm last weekend but I knew it could be better.  Since the drinking fountains don't work on the greenbelt during the winter I was going to have to use my car as my water supply and I wouldn't be able to stray very far from that point.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see when I got down to the park to start my 16 mile jaunt, but I guess I was hoping the path would be a little more clear than it really was.  Turns out the paths had been plowed (yay!) but were essentially just covered in packed snow (boooooo!).  I knew right when I started out that it was going to be another really difficult run.  I took a water bottle with me and carried it for 8 miles before stopping at the car to refill.  I grabbed a granola bar and more energy chews and refilled my water before snapping this photo and heading back out for the second half of the run...

I thought the first 8 miles were tough but had this glimmer of hope that I wouldn't want to die during the second 8 miles.  It was terribly exhausting to run on the snow (clearly my number one complaint of this whole training process) and it took me quite a while to finish, especially when it came to miles 12-16.  At some point in time I realized my pace was not salvageable and that I really just needed to finish the mileage so I could get home which also meant I had to be ok with walking a lot during the last few miles. 

Hopefully by the time I need to run 18 miles in 2 weeks the snow will be cleared up and I'll get to experience something that looks close to running in decent weather. 

On a positive note, I did get to snap this beauty when I was out galavanting...