Snowy trails -- Wed. January 28

UMA called a snow day, amazingly, so I had the chance to get out for long one; this is good as I missed my medium run yesterday. Maybe 3-4 inches had fallen, small flakes and heavy snow; it was snowing when I went out, and snowed/sleeted throughout the run. Given that the roads were not clear, I figured I'd do a rail trail, but in the end it was too tough to do complete, so I went out on that trail and came back on 181. Hit the untouched trail from within the development, but at the GeoHannum crossing met a snowmobile coming the other way--very handy!! Followed his trail all the way from there: though it made the trail easier, it was still soft and sinky, just a little less deep than the non-snowmobiled trail. At least it kept my ankles dry. I was not aiming to go fast, but steady eights were nearly nines, and after mile two they just got slower. I nearly bailed out of the trail at NoWash, but kept going to 181, feeling like I was covering twice the distance. Felt better on the road, which while not clear of snow was a bit firmer than the trail, and not too heavily trafficked; recovered a bit, but right knee was pretty sore. This picked up a bit as I went on. Reaching town I had a bit left to stride out for a 7:40 or so mile heading back to 9 and GeoHannum, where I stopped the clock:

Time: 1:29:38
Distance: 10.24 miles
Pace/Speed: 8:45/ 6.85 mph

Comment: a tough one, definitely felt like an endurance run, distance notwithstanding.