Sloppy Run (or "I Love My YakTrax!")

It's been icy here in Minnesota since about Monday night. We had a WARM day with lots of rain. And then it cooled down quickly and turned to ice and snow. My run on Wednesday was indoors. But yesterday (Friday), I thought it was worth a try outside.

I LOVE running outside in winter and in cold weather, but last winter proved that running on ice isn't smart - I had knee/quad issues all spring/summer from running too "stiff" on ice as I was trying not to fall down. So yesterday, I broke out some YakTrax for the first time in YEARS:

With the stroller (with Charlie in it) at the Y parking lot pre-run.

I've avoided YakTrax for a few years because I remember them beating up my feet and being a little uncomfortable BUT I THAT'S NOT TRUE. I'VE MISSED THEM. THEY WERE AMAZING. I think that change is mainly due to my change in training. Years ago, when I was wearing YakTrax for half marathon training in the middle of winter, I would run maybe 50% of my runs hard. And I think running HARD on YakTrax is what made me not like them. Now, I probably only run about 20% of my runs hard, and running easier on them yesterday was NO problem. They did GREAT on slippery spots and on the slush along the Greenway:

Pushing Charlie for 6.5 miles at 7:20 pace. (47:27 overall)

My phone was dead when I finished (the 17 degree air killed the battery), so I couldn't take a photo of my slush-covered legs from the splatter of the stroller wheels. Or the 20 oz of slush that had found it's way into the lower shelf of the stroller. But everything else was grand!

My run was actually VERY consistent at first: my first 6 half-mile splits were within 3 seconds (3:37 - 3:40). I sped up a little near the end, but just took it relatively easy. Now, lets see about an 8-9 miler tomorrow!