Thursday, December 10, 2009

Slop Running..

Early season, mid season, late season... in the mid Atlantic mountains, all of these are candidates for finding good slop for running..
Cold nights, warm days, and less than 10" of snow (new snow, old snow, any old snow).. make for cushioned footfalls, hidden rocks and holes, slippery takeoffs and turns, and wet, wild and sometimes muddy adventures at speed, spiraling up and down, over and under..
Plus, the mid thirty-degree range is an almost perfect running temperature and humidity level.. Change up your running game.. you'll be glad.
There's nothing like it!



Sometimes, I take for granted the treat it is to live on a mountainside.
With an arctic air mass inbound, I decided to take advantage of the above described running conditions...and at 1.30pm, at 1100 ft elevation, the temperature right at 32, I started on my "up the mountain over and back again" run... From the (relative) calm but shady SE (leeward)side of the ridge.. all was right with the world.
2.15 pm I was topping out at somewhere around2,400 ft the temperature was now in the low 20s.. and the slop was gone and in it's place was crusty styrofoam, and where there was no snow, the surface layer of leaves and mud was a frozen, slippery laminate... waiting for my careless footfall. Crossing to the NW side of the ridge, the full force gale winds of the approaching front were brutal... the sweat was freezing on my hat and on my sunglasses...
2.55pm returning to the start, temperature now in the mid twenties... and it feels so good.

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