October Snowy Run

Central Minnesota got hit with a snowstorm on Tuesday afternoon. We all knew it was coming, but I think most of us were in denial until it hit. I posted this between my classes:

Caption: "Raking leaves during a snowstorm is on par for this God-forsaken year."

I had to quick rake the leaves on my driveway (that are still falling - it's not that I've just been lazy) because if I had to get out the snow blower, the leaves would clog it up.

The scene driving to class later that afternoon.

The next morning, I got up early to make photos, and then I figured I should also go for an early run. The trail along River Road had not been plowed, so I realized my best bet for a run would either be the clear sidewalks of the nearby University of St. Thomas, or the "busy" roads that had been nicely plowed but before lots of cars get on them and make it dangerous to run on. So I headed out at 5 a.m. running against traffic in the bike lane on Cleveland Ave. (And I was wearning a reflective vest for safety.)

One of the sidewalks around St. Thomas was cleared pretty well, but another along Summit Ave was NOT. So there went the idea of just doing laps around St. Thomas. I ran against traffic in the bike lane on Summit. That was the best idea because (1) Summit is not a major thoroughfare; (2) it's a "rich" area where there aren't many cars parked on the street so the plows had a good chance to go curb-to-curb; (3) in our area of Summit, the road is split with a large grassy median in the middle, so I don't have to worry about anyone flipping a U turn; and (4) there's a lot of space on the side of the road because there's a 2' striped area next to the cars, then a 5' bike lane, and then a 7' parking lane (so I could basically have 14' of street to myself!).

I did 2 laps down-and-back on a stretch of Summit to hit just over 5.5 miles. In a 2 mile stretch from mile 1-3, I only had 2 cars meet me. Then I had a FEW more after that, but it was still quiet.

I finished my run and grabbed my phone for a few photos:

Side streets were not run-able.
(At least not on my prone-to-injury-when-running-tight-as-not-to-fall-down legs!)


Here's the bike and parking lane on my road - not much room with cars and snow.


But where cars couldn't park was nicely plowed.
(Summit Ave a 1/2 mile away was WIDER, but not as perfectly cleared.)


Our front steps were shoveled the night before, but the
snow lumps are all our pumpkins off to the side.

So it was a record-setting snow:

Snowiest Oct 20, and 2nd snowiest day in Oct EVER.


We live right under the "Cities" of "Twin Cities" near the middle - between the 6.5 and 6.6 inch marks.


I had to RT this. Halloween 1991 was the blizzard no one will forget.

The day after my run (Thursday), the same weather guy from above (Ian Leonard) tweeted this with the following image:

All of those things could be found in a pretty small area
just south of the Cities (right around Faribault, maybe?)

What a damn year. After a bit of snow on Friday, I think we hit our snowiest October on record.

Luckily, my legs felt fine post-run! No random knee issues brought on by running "tight" and too upright while trying not to slip. I might incorporate some "snowy early morning running in the plowed street" runs this winter.