Snowshoeing!

Well, it's already 17 days into the new year and I've managed to go out for a wopping one run. The refrain is a familiar one, work and weather have stood in my way. While I don't particularly mind running in weather that is in the twenties or even teens, jogging strollers don't do well in snow and my running schedule until now has hinged critically on multi-tasking (i.e. childcare and running). That and a series of 12 hour work days has left me little extra time.


My one run, however, was quite a lot of fun as I've decided to embrace Michigan weather and my semi-rural residence by buying a pair of snowshoes for my birthday. Above is a picture of Elliott and I trying the snowshoes. I tried out pulling Elliott on a sled, which was fun for a while, but I couldn't get up to speed without kicking snow in his face (he had fun being pulled around our yard though!). Later I went out for a hour long run through some fields with the snowshoes by myself. I highly recommend the workout as it is relatively easy to run in them and it is fun to offroad through farm fields and areas that I wouldn't typically run. It is a bit like running in sand so you can expect slower speeds and a bit more of a workout, but it does have me looking forward to more snow. We are expecting about 8 inches by Sunday so that's a good thing.

On a side note, I did end 2008 on a high note with one final informal marathon to wrap up the year. I also racked up 2,599 miles over 2008. It's probably a bit more then that since I have been pretty irregular about recording my runs since my GPS began flaking out. Anyway, happy new year to all. I hope to have some time to think about my goals and plans, as well as those for the Lupus Runners, in the near future so stay tuned!