Snowy Sunfish Pond Group Run

I decided to make last week a cutback week.  That caused me to really slack off and only run 3 days.  I didn't even run yesterday.  I knew I had to do more this week.

Ryan and I went up to the Delaware Water Gap to meet up with Janine, Bob and their friend Nita.  The plan was to run the McDade Trail, but River Road was closed.  Rather than parking at the gate and getting a ticket, we decided to head to the Worthington State Forest parking area.

This was supposed to be an insanely cold day.  The temperature was predicted to be 10 degrees with crazy winds that made it feel like -11 degrees.  As usual, the cold weather was overblown.  This was about the coldest that I've ran in, although last year's Polar Vortex run felt much worse.

I was well prepared with my attire.  I wore sweatpants over my tights.  I had on a jacket over my ColdGear top.  I also had some heavy gloves and various hats and such.  I actually took off my heavy gloves early on and opted for my normal winter gloves.  I did put some vaseline on my face before the run.

We started off after 12:30, so it wasn't as cold as earlier.  We were also in a valley along a creek for most of the run and thus blocked by the wind.  For most of the run, that is.  Rather than going up Mt. Tammany, we went on the AT to Sunfish Pond and back.

I started off behind everyone.  Bob moved over pretty early and I got ahead of Ryan too.  Nita was leading the way.  It's a gradual uphill at the start, but tough to run through in the snow, especially for someone who is not too experienced with snow runs.  Apparently, this was Nita's first ever snow run.

The trail was pretty nice.  It was smooth and the hikers had made a nice path.  It was a little soft, but very runnable.  After a bit, Nita got tired and stopped and then started hiking.  I ran on past her.  I think Ryan was behind me and I was kind of surprised that he was keeping pace.

I kept running wherever I could.  The path was good, but the snow still brought a lot of resistance.  My calves were getting very tight and it was quite the battle.

This is a nice gradual climb that is almost all runnable in clear conditions.  Today, it was just too tough for that.  Still, I ran a lot.  I had to hike here and there too.  This was definitely more running than I've been doing on a lot of my runs lately.

By now, I thought I was pretty far ahead of the group.  We came to a curve section, where you can see far behind you.  I saw no one, so I knew I was quite far in front now.  I was pushing a bit, because this is the hardest part of the run.

Mile 2 seemed kind of slow, but I plugged along.  I had already gained a lot of the elevation.  It was fun running wherever I could.  There were some minor snowdrifts here and there, but overall, it wasn't too bad.  I battled on.  If anything, I was getting a little hot.  The 3rd mile ended up being fairy quick, at least by today's standards.

I had commented to Ryan in the beginning that the top of the mountain, ridge section would be interesting.  It sure was.  That place is windy even on a nice day.  Today, it was brutal.  The trail had completely disappeared in the snowdrifts.  I was forced to cut the trail.  At times, the snow was so deep that it was nearly up to thigh level.  Needless to say, I was hiking there and going slowly.

I might've turned around if I didn't know where I was going.  However, I figured that this snowdrift section wouldn't last too long.  It was maybe a half mile at most.  There's normally a lot of rocks in the area, but there were almost none today.

Finally at 3.5 miles, the trail opened up again.  It was back to being runnable and fun.  I was nearing Sunfish Pond.  I got there and took a photo of the sign.  The pond looked amazing.  It was frozen and covered with snow and the snow was blowing too.  I really wanted a photo of it, but my battery died before I could get one.  That was so disappointing.

There had been talk about going a different route back.  However, there was no way I was going to take a chance on a route that I didn't know the conditions of.  I didn't want to encounter even worse snowdrifts.  Getting to Sunfish Pond had been well worth it.  That was why I kept battling through the snowdrifts.

I turned around and headed back.  I was just under 4 miles and getting there took me about 56 minutes.  I would've waited at Sunfish Pond, if it were a nicer day.  It was too cold to stand around.

On the way back, a deer came out and on to the trail.  It ran on the trail for a bit and then into the woods.  I had been wondering if the others might've turned around at the snowdrifts.  Not soon after thinking that, I saw Ryan.  He was maybe half a mile behind me.  Bob wasn't too far behind him.

I then saw Janine and Nita farther back.  They were going through the snowdrifts.  I told them they were almost done with the tough part.  After we had all gone through there, it was probably a little better for them.  In fact, I could now run through some of this while heading back.  Still, I had to hike a bit too.

The reason I busted my butt initially was because I knew most of the first half of the run was uphill, while the second half would be downhill and much easier.  It surely was.  There were rolling hills early, but most of it after the snowdrifts was fast and downhill.

It seemed like a slight wind was in my face now.  Still, it wasn't too bad.  Then, for some reason above my behind felt numb.  To be safe, I put a glove down my pants in that area.  It seemed to solve the issue.  My neck had been hitting the wind too and so I took off my winter hat and put on a face mask.  That helped protect my neck.

The trail got faster and faster as I went down.  I knew I'd be in under 2 hours and now, I was shooting for a sub 1:45.  Even with some stopping, mile 6 was a 10:25.

I cruised on down.  I passed two hikers coming up.  They were lucky that we made a trail for them.  Some of the steeper parts were a blast.  Mile 7 went by in no time.  It was a 9:30.

I was making great time and nearly done.  I was happy to get to the part of the trail that splits.  That meant that I was nearly home.  When I got back to the parking area, I was at about 7.75 miles.  I ran a short out and back to get to 8 miles.  The final mile was a super quick 8:37.

Luckily, I got Ryan's car keys from him earlier.  Otherwise, I would've froze.  It took him about 15 more minutes to finish.  The others came a short bit later.  I hit my goal of a sub 1:45.  In fact, I crushed that.

We went for pizza afterward.  That was good to sit down and chat.  Nita had to work, so she passed on that.  My Tailwind had frozen, so I had nothing to drink on the last half of the run, so I needed the calories.  I ended up cramping up in the pizza place.  Only I could cramp up after a run in near freezing conditions.

Since I've taken too many days off lately, I'm definitely running again tomorrow.  The temperature is supposed to get up to a steamy 19 degrees.  I'm not sure where I'll go.  Maybe I'll head to Lehigh Gap.  I need somewhere that is sort of clear.


8 miles - 1:41:50 (12:43 pace) 1376 feet of elevation gain