I feel as if the entire winter we, here in the midwest, have just been banking our miles, saying our thanks for good weather and waiting.  We know the snow is coming.  We know this means slippery or impassable trails that will slow and/or hamper our runs.  We know that road running is in our VERY near future.  The weather people say that winter is coming tomorrow, in the form of snow.  Supposedly, we will be getting real snow in the form of 1 to 10 inches.  Way to narrow it down, thanks, I’ll just schedule my snow day now NOT.

In preparation for the possible 10 inches of snow, hubby gassed up the snowmobiles and made sure that they would start easily for Ms. TooTall.  My personal preparations were to make sure I got groceries in a good run.  I certainly don’t want to be snowed in wondering when I’ll get to run next, so while all of you were duking it out at Jewel, I hit the trail.  I wanted my first 4 miles to be 8:30-8:45 so needed to get to the trail early to ensure that could happen.  And once again, it was daylight.  This makes me super happy!  I actually grabbed my music today too, which is very unusual for me but I wanted to push and thought it would be a good distraction.  Sorry about the ear buds coming out of my bra.

Then I hit the trail for some fastish miles with photos squeezed in between, and 2 phone calls, and some txt messages.  So my mile splits were all over the place due to the above:  Mile 1:  8:35, Mile 2:  9:19, Mile 3:  9:07, and Mile 4:  8:51.  I know this looks like a pacing fail but the following pics were taken, in addition to the phone calls, etc. 

As you can see the light is diminishing, which means it is almost time to meet my F’N Running Club!  Whooooop!  So I busted it back to Frankfort with my ipod blaring camera tucked away.

We had another AWESOME group show up for a Wednesday night run because they too were afraid of the impending snow storm.  The F’N Running Club Ladies, Top:  Maggie, Dawn, April, Michelle, Kathy, Aurelia, Susan, & Cathie.  Middle:  Kate LF, Megan, Jeni.  Bottom:  Me & Diane.We had one guy tonight, and here is the proof.  Brian F. posed with us in the front and I bet he can’t wait til Brian P. is fixed up and ready to run again. 

In light of recent events, on a different trail far away, we took a few seconds to remind everyone to be safe, be aware of their surroundings, run with a partner, or pepper spray, etc.  My favorite pepper spray comes from personalsavers.com, I like the wrist saver.  I know I have posted about this before but I like it cuz it fits right next to my watch and is very accessible, not tucked away in a pocket somewhere.  Please be AWARE and SAFE!

And then we were off to run.  As you saw, we had a great sized group tonight!  The group ranged from run/walkers at 3 miles to 9:00 min milers at the 4-6 mile mark.  Lots of in between too!  It was so nice seeing so many of our group on the trail, supporting each other.  Lots of fun and we are really becoming more of a team, trying to help and push each other, rather than just a group who shows up to run.  Nice, I’m proud of all of you!

In total, I had 10 miles in 1:32 today.  Good Wednesday Pre-Snow run!

What do you do before a “possible” snow storm? Do you run, get groceries, gas up the snowmobiles, or put the plow on the truck?  For the record, I did stop on the way home to gas up my car, just in case the snow really does come.

Cheers!                                                                                                                            Amanda – TooTallFritz