2 Weeks to go, and still snow

Yes, two weeks until the Ice Age 50 Mile run, so it was a must to get a long run in at Afton yesterday. I put a shout out for some to join at 4:30 am if interested, knowing I would probably be solo. But, Karen said she was game, and Bryan on the sleep in said he was game as well. I was hoping to get in at least a 50k, but I had to be home by a certain time, hence the early start.

I opened the garage door to find what looked like to be a repeat of the Chippewa 50 weather. Snowing hard, but not sticking. The wind was brutal though. How I wish for global warming to return.

I arrived to see Karen already waiting. =Steve, there should be points added to the Fab 5 fifties for those who are the first in the parking lot at Afton=. Karen won that won. We waited for Bryan on the sleep in, but said "too bad" by 4:40.

Karen and I set out for the snowshoe loop first, as we knew it would be protected from the wind. We got down by the bridge, and we see headlights! Maybe Bryan made it! I turned on my flashing headlamp so he can see.

We looked for someone to find us, but no dice (i wonder who that was in the car?). After 2/3ds of the whole course, we started to head back to the parking lot, and there was Mr. Quick, and Mr. Rowe. Steve was the one we saw in the car earlier. Was I surprised, he claims not to be a morning person and we started at what normally is his bed time.

So we all had a good time chatting it up, forgetting about the mileage. And Steve is one of the few who knows the movie quotes I often use. The day began to blur, and we avoided the Africa loop due to high winds (i was cold, wet and beginning to tire).

Steve bailed on us, Karen was somewhere, and I was starting to fade. Down by the long stretch along the river, around mile 27, I kept getting "the look" from Todd. I was wimping out. I knew I had to get the 31 in. But it was time to Whine. I decided I needed the punishment of campground hill 1 more time.

We made it up, but on the way down, I felt better. I said "let's Kamikaze down", and we were running, full speed. Hey, that felt good. We did it again, on the next hill. It felt so good, I ran all the way to the end of the section, fast. What happened? I got the lead out.

It was time to be done, but I felt great. I decided to end it by running up the paved path and steps to the parking lot. That felt good too. Ran all the way to the car, hard, the pain is gone. Todd was a good sport, and was right with me.

I had no long run paid the rest of the day. I felt tired, but not destroyed. I could have kept going.

Ice Age will be interesting. The rest of the day was full of toting people around, and going to "stuff"

No pain this morning. What a nice change.

Will do #4 Hadd test next weekend