Eisenhower = Eisnowhower

Well, this being Saturday means an early morning wake-up and drive to Chaminade to get James to swim practice by 7 am.  I dropped him off and headed to Eisenhower with the hope that maybe the fitness trail was plowed out.

I pulled into the deserted lot right around 7 and was glad to see the plow piles along the path by Lot 1.  I did a quick stretch, noting that the PITA has now located itself squarely in my right hamstring.  I set off at an easy pace along the path, hoping to be able to do the 5k loop -- actually, determined to do the 5k loop.  The bottom half was manageable, and I kept my fingers crossed as I followed the path north of the aquatic center.  Unfortunately, in the lot by the ampitheater the path ended in an abrupt low pile of snow.  I imagine sometime in the last few days a plow driver said to himself "well, that's far enough.  I think I'll just stop here and go back."

Undeterred, I continued on through the knee-deep snow.  It was absolutely pristine...no footsteps, XC ski trails or anything that might make the going a tad easier.  Against my better judgement (again!) I turned right and went down to the duck pond.  It was about this point that I really began missing the red blood cells I dropped off yesterday.  I had gone from running to doing some sort of highstepping quick march.  It was like trying to run through the ball pit at Chucky Cheese, only colder and without small children that might provide some sort of traction (kidding!).  By the time I got to the 9/11 memorial I was cooked.  I somehow made it up the hill to the driving range and back onto the plowed road.  I continued on and had to make a few detours to avoid the snowed over areas.  The loop was still about a 5k.  I adjusted my route for the rest of my run, opting to stay on the plowed path even though I mostly ran in circles through ice and slush.

By the time I got back to the car, there were a group of beginning runners milling about, waiting for a training program to begin.  I wished them well, told them where it was sorta clear and silently wondered how many of them would hate running after today.  Hopefully they all managed ok!

115 miles down, 385 to go...