Soft trails -- Wed. Jan. 26

Took a rest on Monday, which was good as the temp. started way below 0 degrees F. Tuesday was pretty cold too, but Wed. was bearable. Out after 8 am, in longs, etc. -- prob. about 8-10 deg. F at this point, but strong sun. Headed to GeoHannum and then into the trail towards Checkers: do the same route from there as Ken and I did on Sunday, only the trail was a bit softer today. Hard slog all the way to the canal trail, down there, and then exit through the woods on to NoWash: 5.4 miles trail thus far. Then down to Bardwell, enjoying the firm surface!, and back up NoLib, times dropped from around 9:00s to 7:30s or less, before reentering the trail at the underpass. Going back it seems even harder, but slog on to 202, then bail out on to Howard, and after that take the short route home, past the Poulin house, up past Bill's and stop the clock just after home, thus:

Time: 1:42:09
Distance: 12.2 miles
Pace: 8:30s

Comment: this was an effort, but I certainly was ready for the step up. Managed to function fine the rest of the day, and even made it in for the 11:15 class *on time* no less. Weekly mileage on track, though I'm kind of itching for a tempo run now. . .