Snowy Run in the Twin Cities

We woke up to nearly 2 inches of snow in St. Paul yesterday morning. I Instagrammed this pic of the boys and I shoveling:

Caption: "Winter finally came to the Cities."

After church, the boys and Mama headed for the gym (in the car), and I followed (in my running shoes):

Bare legs (if calf sleeves count as "bare legs") in the snow.


There was just enough snow to spawn a few sledders at Town and Country Club
(a golf course) just off of Marshall and Cretin in St. Paul.


Hallelujah! Plowed trails in St. Paul along River Road!


Where St. Paul turns into Minneapolis. MPLS had NOT plowed yet. [frowny face emoji]

I tweet/facebook/blog this EVERY winter: Minneapolis has smoother trails, but St. Paul maintains theirs in the winter WAY better. So I turned around after snapping that pic above. Minneapolis, you suck.*

Crossing the (unplowed) Lake/Marshall bridge, looking towards
downtown Minneapolis (which is unseen because of some light snow falling).


Yay! THIS part of Minneapolis had plowed trails!...


... but when I got to the Greenway Trail, I was shocked to find that it wasn't plowed!
So I turned around to add on more miles along plowed River Road before getting
sloshy wet shoes for the final 1.5 miles on the Greenway.


Back on River Road, running up the long hill under the Franklin Ave Bridge.


Back on the Greenway. It was deceptively MORE sloshy than it
appears here - there was a lot of wet snow under the pretty stuff.


Arrived at the Y. 7 miles in 48 mins. With soaked feet and a moist beard.
(My wife HATES the beard, so it's going shortly. She also hates the word "moist.")


My wife did her long run on the track at the Y, so we were STARVING
when we left. I Instagrammed this pic after we had a table full
of beans, rice, and tacos at Pineda Tacos across from our gym.

* As a St. Paulie, I'm contractually obligated to mention that St. Paul is better than Minneapolis and that Minneapolis smells. It was part of our paperwork when we bought our house here 10 years ago. However, I have a few friends who live in Minneapolis. And they're OK. Not horrible. Not even too stinky. But still a bit unattractive. Homely maybe.