I double booked myself this weekend. I’ve been running a loop series run by RD John Beck at Uptown GentleFriends . The series is run on the towpath that runs alongside the Delaware and Raritan Canal on both the NJ and the PA sides of the river. Each loop starts at one bridge, goes up to the next bridge, and back to the starting bridge.

There are five loops in the series- 7 miles, 15 miles, 16 miles, 7 miles, and 19 miles. It’s a nice crushed-gravel path and it is a nice, scenic way to maintain longer distances during the off seasons.

This Saturday, I ran the fourth loop- which was 7 miles, but the towpath was mostly covered with snow and ice. I made the decision to try out a pair of YakTrax SnowTrax that I was gifted for Christmas this year. They were FANTASTIC. I didn’t have to worry about slipping on the ice.

The last two miles were rough, because they were covered in 3-4 inches of snow- makes for a different set of muscles. I maintained a 9-minute mile, which I was stoked by. John also got this great shot of me!

Sunday was a different story. I am also participating in a winter race series run by the Buck County RoadRunners. I hadn’t slept well, I had heavy legs from the day before, and I got stuck behind a freight train on my way to the race.

This race was only a 10k, but it is set in a park with lots of paved elevation. I was gassed by 2.5 miles, and the only saving grace was the downhills. I finished with an 8:40 pace, but I didn’t feel fantastic or consistent. I did, however, get a nice mug of tomato soup at the end.

The goal for this series was to do hill training and NOT to race it, but I think I got in my head the first hill and overdid it. Not every run can be your best run, right?

-TSR