Post-blizzard shake out...

It was 11 days ago when I last ran. In those 11 days, two snow storms blasted through town dumping more than a foot of snow on the streets. I live on a snow route, so my street was "cleared" early. It was still snow and ice packed. I thought better of it every time I thought about running. No sense in risking injury from a fall.

With the melting that took place yesterday, I felt it was safe enough to go out this morning. At 18 degrees, I figured the ice patches would at least be solid. I wouldn't have to worry about falling through and getting wet feet. My socks got soaked yesterday while I was shoveling snow and slush. I wasn't keen on repeating that.

I stepped out into the cold just before 6:30. Normally on a school day, I'd be stepping back in to fix breakfast at that time. Today is not a normal day. My kids' school is on a two-hour delay, so they don't have to show up till 10:00. They're ready to go. They haven't been to school since the 19th.

My plan from the beginning was to run on emergency snow routes. That, if figured, would give me the best footing. I started out running down Howard to mail some bills and my daughter's tax payment, then ran through the grocery store's parking lot over to Lawrence, through the bank's parking lot and onto Stout.

Stout had a few spots that were icy, but it was mostly clean. I took it up to School, then headed west. School was by far the worst street I ran on. There was a stretch or two where I was running on hard snow and ice. I did not like that one bit. I slowed down and placed each foot carefully.

I turned north on Main, ran across to the other side and followed it up to Maple. Parts of Main were treacherous too. Thankfully, I saw all the slick spots and avoided them.

Turning east on Maple, I ran down the hill, then back up it. This quarter mile or so was the driest of all the streets I ran on. Only when I came to the intersection of Stout and turned south did I have ice to deal with.

I ran down Stout to School and did another loop of the same snow routes bringing me back to School on Stout again. I thought about turning onto School and taking the shorter route home, but opted for the longer route. Retracing my steps through the parking lots, I made my way back to Howard and ran north to home. Glancing at my Garmin, I saw I was close to four and a quarter miles, so I ran till I reached that point then stopped. I turned around and walked straight to my front door. I was tired of the chilled air and ready for a little warmth. (garmin data)