Today’s goal of 4.5 hours (approx 20 – 22 miles) did not happen. And it’s not that we didn’t try…we tried really hard! After an hour of schlepping through ice and thick crusty snow at a pace of a 26 minute mile, we decided to take it to the road. It was way to dangerous and it wasn’t worth yet. Yes, yours truly took a spill on the icy path (and I wasn’t the only one), but I only ended up with a little bit of an ice burn or is it ice rash? Whatever it’s called it wasn’t bad but definitely annoying.

While it was really chilly to start, the temperatures warmed up nicely. It was great to not have frozen snot on my face for a change. The road we took was scenic and we went through a little down in Darlington. The old homes and farms were beautiful and the little elementary school was, well…little. I missed the shot of the miniature ponies, but I managed to capture a shot of a bald eagle. Too bad my cell phone camera couldn’t zoom in any further.

Oh and do you remember when your grandparents would say that they had to walk uphill both ways to get to school? Well, we apparently found that road. Seriously, the climb was just ridiculous.  I have to admit, I was able to keep a steady pace and I powered up almost all the way to the end. I was probably about 20 feet away from the top when I stopped to walk. But I heard Troy yell something to the effect of “Don’t stop now” so I dug deep and kept on going. Thanks for the boost Troy! Here’s what the elevation looked like. See…uphill, both ways.

All things considered, it was still a great run. Here are a few snapshots from today.

We ended up getting in only half of what we set out for, so tomorrow, we’ll bump up the mileage, take it to the road again.