8.2 miles/313 vert./1:02:13/7:35 pace/avg. HR 153
Was waiting all day for it to get nice, but it never really did aside from a few fleeting glimpses of sunshine. Finally (and now reluctantly) got out the door at 3:54pm and it was cold and breezy, but figured since we were all suited up and ready to roll, we would get in at least a few miles. Once I got running though, I felt good and was immediately into it (having a mp3 loaded with good podcasts helped tremendously).
The first mile was the most vert. of the run (132 ft.), so was a bit slow, but the miles seemed to click by smoothly after that. Headed toward the rec. center, followed the powerlines to Dillon and then took a chance heading over to the Coal Creek Trail, hoping that it would not be too snowy or muddy. There was some mud and a little fresh snow, but it was just a little slow and messy, but definitely tolerable. Just before crossing the creek by the golf course, there was a huge tree across the trail and there was absolutely no way around it. I was 5 miles in at this point and the prospect of backtracking around the golf course was not appealing, as we were nearing baby dinner time.
I considered a few unlikely options, then it dawned on me that if there were no fences, I could backtrack to the golf course and cut across. Sure enough, it was wide open and I did a bit of cross country through the snow and across the course to eventually get back on track.
Overall a pretty good moderate run. Slowest mile was 8:38, fastest was 6:32 at 152 HR.
