After a lot of deliberating, my husband and I decided to trek down to New Jersey and do our long run down there. I was kind of happy for the new scenery but kind of paranoid of where we'd actually do the run. My friend lives off of a death trap of a road so that isn't an option. There is a GREAT path that leads to another park but given the forecast, I didn't think that was a possibility. My husband said that regardless we'd do the run so although I was dreading what I'd wake up to, I felt a bit more at ease.
We got to NJ very late and at that time - it really didn't look like it was going to snow and I felt even better that the path was going to be a viable option and all of my stressing would be for nothing (this is a typical pattern for me). Well, yeah, kinda sorta. We woke up and there was plenty of snow - I was concerned. I was even more concerned once we got outside and saw just how much the roads were not treated/plowed. Awesome.
I wasn't going to pay to go to a gym to do these 14 miles on the treadmill - I cannot stomach the treadmill nevermind paying extra money to do so. This run was being done outside and heck, we headed to the path.
It was great at first - it actually looked plowed and so we started on our way and I was actually having fun - I love being able to enjoy the outdoors in the winter. We hit another section of the path and well, that wasn't so plowed and by this time we were tredging through about 5 inches of snow (see pic). Still having fun, we stopped and took a few photos. It's a really peaceful path and again, just great to be outdoors.
This path was about 2.5 miles long - good for 5 miles back/forth but not quite the 14 I was looking for and speed- yeah- that wasn't happening. The path took us to a park (I had done this same thing before). The park was 2 miles around and miraculously being plowed (mind you again, the roads were not plowed but the park was being plowed - makes no sense but good for me!).
We circled the park twice and well in the middle of that - the exhaustion of running through the snow really started to hit. Wow, what a work out but man, I was exhausted. I also didn't happen to sleep the night before so I was really hurting.
My husband and I agreed (well, I have to be forced into agreeing to cut miles no matter what) that if we could get 10 miles in then we were good - these conditions were just less than ideal. Furthermore, the weather was changing to a frozen rain and well, it hurt.
We ended up circling the park twice and then heading back to my friends house. An adventure for sure. My hips/legs were aching last night even beyond what ibuprofen could help with but this is winter running isn't it.
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