It was freezing this morning, but not too bad by the time we started at 1:30 PM. I wore the usual vest over my long sleeve shirt. I added shorts over my tights, for extra wind protection. The headband and gloves came on and off. At the higher elevations, it was windy and cold. Lower valleys it was warm. I had to switch back and forth.
We began and I let Ryan set the pace and lead Steve and I. I was kind of disappointed in the snow. I thought more people would've come through there and it would've been more packed down. It was runnable, but I was hoping for it to be smoother and faster than it was.
I took an early photo of the two of them running ahead of me. Then, before I put the camera away, it slipped out of my hand and into the snow. I thought I even stepped on it. However, when I stopped, I couldn't find it anywhere. It seemed like it was right on the trail, but I was having no luck finding it. I moved snow all around. I must've been there looking for between 5 and 10 minutes. I decided to give up and look for it later. By now, Steve and Ryan had run way ahead. I wasn't sure if I'd even catch them. I was looking forward to running with people for a change, and here I was running on my own. That was so frustrating.
I was mostly running, but I was definitely mixing running and hiking. Running up the hills was tough. I cruised along. I got to the road crossing and saw a car pull in there. Later, I saw someone with a dog way behind me.
I hiked the beginning of the long, gradual hill. Then as I was running, I could see Ryan and Steve farther up. They were so far ahead. It must've been at least a quarter mile gap. I knew I could close it, but figured it would take several miles.
I kept making progress. I was definitely running a little harder than I would've liked. The dogs barked at me as usual. As I got to the one turn and gradual uphill, I saw Ryan and Steve and they weren't that far ahead. They were hiking. I knew I'd catch them if I ran up the hill. It was tough, as there were a lot of snowdrifts.
I finally caught them along the top. I told them about my phone. A dog came out of a yard right then and barked at me. It didn't seem happy. Eventually, I walked away from it and it went about its business.
Now, the three of us were together. Steve was doing pretty good, considering this was his first Trexler run. We cruised along. I flew down a hill and led for a bit. Then, I let Ryan go back ahead. I was in no hurry. Plus, I was beat from trying to catch them.
We made our way over the shorter hills and the two big hills. The biggest one was super tough. Steve dropped behind a bit. We were mostly hiking and it was a slow go. We waited for Steve as we turned on to the green trail.
There was a lot more gradual climbing now. Ryan and I got pretty far ahead. Eventually, we came to the white trail and again waited for Steve. Going down the white trail super fast was a blast. It is so steep that it was crazy out of control.
We met up again at the bottom. We crossed the water, thanks to a board that a friend had put over the small stream. That was great because the ice wasn't thick.
Since Steve was struggling, we suggested he take the bottom blue trail route, while we climb. He could then head back to the car and skip the final 3 miles. He'd still get 7 miles in anyway. That worked out best for all three of us.
The climb up the blue trail was tough as always. It was made even tougher with the snow. This section had been heavily traveled though. We hiked most of the way up it. The views of the LV Zoo and valley below were amazing. I wish I didn't lose my camera.
Coming down the blue was crazy fun. It wasn't as steep as the white. It was so fast. I flew ahead of Ryan, although he wasn't too far back. We crossed the bridge at the bottom. We saw Steve across the creek and directed him in the right direction.
Ryan and I continued on. We ran along the stone trail. Then, we took the yellow trail up a bit. We hiked that. I led us through the short cut. Now, we were back on the Border Trail.
I thought this would be easy. While it was easier, the snow still made it a challenge. All the ups and downs in the snow were taking their toll. We ran some and hiked some.
Before long, we were on the long uphill toward KidsPeace. We hiked that. I was hoping we could do this loop in a little under 2 hours, but it was such a slow go in the snow and we were over that now.
We were able to run in some tire tracks on the road part. I didn't take enough calories, so I was losing it a little in this part. I wasn't steady enough to stay in the tire tracks.
We then went back on the singletrack. This rolling part is always runnable in the clear. In the snow, it was a mix of running and hiking. There were some snowdrifts too. Ryan fell a little behind.
It was good to cross the road and nearly be home. A few more snowdrifts slowed us up. We hiked up the last hill. It was clear that we weren't running 10 more miles. We hoped we could do a partial loop though. The last short hill was tough, but I ran up it.
We stopped at the car briefly. I got some pretzels. I think that helped a lot. We went back out to run and hike. First, we had to get over the big hill and find my phone. When we had no luck finding it after a few minutes, I stopped my watch. That was it for the day. I could've run more if we didn't waste so much time looking for the phone.
My dad and I found it later on at night. It was buried under the snow. I'm glad it still worked and I didn't lose it. The run wasn't as much as we had hoped, but it was a productive day. The snow made for a very challenging 10 miles.
This was an awesome week. I got over 9,500 feet of elevation gain through the snow. I ran and hiked for over 10 hours. I will be stronger after this. I love the challenge of winter running.
I'm quite exhausted. Even so, I'm planning on doing a group run in the morning. The Pagoda Pacers are running part of the challenging Buzzard course. It is near Harrisburg. It has some steep climbs. I've been wanting to go there for some time. It should be fun in the snow.
10.94 miles - 2:54:52 (15:59 pace) 2196 feet of elevation gain
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