Start time: 2/24/07, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 9 miles
Run:Walk Ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 11:00min/mile

Continuing my comeback from the injury, the plan was to run 10 miles with my old pace group. Their 11:00min/mile pace would be perfect for me to pick the distance back up again, and then in theory I’ll be set for giving the old college try at the National Half Marathon four weeks from now. Well, DC is still in parts covered in ice and snow. Specifically, running trails, as it turned out. I headed out with Ali, Carla, MJ, and Randy out by the Vienna Community Center. VCC is halfway between the 11 and 11.5 markers on the trail, so we walked to 11.5 and began our journey. Everything went great until somewhere around ~14.75 on the trail, at which point the path was completely covered in a never-ending sheet of ice and snow. Crap.

So, we turned around and decided we’d head back to the VCC, then go back out the other direction. This was a slight mistake (we should’ve just stuck with the portion of the trail that we knew was clear) but hindsight is always 20-20. It seemed like a good idea at the time, so we made it back to the VCC, dropped off Randy, and had just 3.5 more miles to go. So I figured we’d keep running and hit marker 11 and that would be 7 miles. Then we could turn around at marker 10, go back to 11, and be done, right?

Did I mention that it is bitterly cold out with nasty freezing winds? My only excuse is that my brain had frozen because that is clearly 9 miles, not 10. As it turned out we really needed to turn around at marker 10 anyway because another huge sheet of ice and snow was further along the trail. (Yeesh.) Between markers 11.5 and 10 it was primarily tiny little trails in huge icefields that caused us to slow down a bit, so it’s really just as well that I can’t count.

Still, a very good and enjoyable time despite the freeze, and since Carla’s knee was starting to hurt towards the end it’s really just as well that “math is hard”. Even better, no pain once again, and I felt most of the time like I could’ve sped up a great deal. Hopefully next weekend will have good enough weather that I can knock out a 10-12 miler and pick up the pace a bit. I don’t think I’m going to get my sub-2:00 at this point, but we’ll see. Fingers crossed!