Shut down but who cares...

This morning I had planned to run up Elden Lookout Road but after a mile, running up the road, realized that it was not in the cards. The wind was super strong up on Mt. Elden, way stronger than in town when I left the house, and I had some serious issues with making any kind of actual running pace. The wind was hitting me square in the face and I was sure that I could have walked faster than I was running. To add to it, the wind made it really, really cold and I was way under dressed. It wasn't looking good. Yes, I could have continued up to the summit but I'm not sure what I would have proved to myself... I would have just froze my ass off.

Instead, I cut left and bailed onto the Brookbank Trail. I figured that I would head up into the Dry Lake Hills and see if the hills and trees would give me some cover. Luckily, I made the right choice and it was way better. Still cold but at least the wind was minimal.

I had a really good run and the snow was in great shape for running. I only punched through a few times on Little Gnarly, the worst section of the run (which wasn't bad at all!). As a bonus, I got to follow some fresh animal tracks (the only fresh tracks on the trail) for the whole length of Little Gnarly. Kinda cool.

In the end, it was a good run even though it was still a 'jogging' pace. I felt good and the knee continues to feel like it can take more miles. I think that next week I will start putting in a 'faster run' at least once a week to add to the growing mileage.

I will admit that I am having a harder and harder time motivating to run in the super cold though... I had dreams of running in the warm sun of Sedona this morning. Man, I haven't been down there to run for a while.

Here are a couple shots from the run this morning...

(Top of Little Gnarly)

(Great running conditions on packed snow part way down Little Gnarly)

Running Log

Yesterday: 0 miles

Today: 10 miles (Parked at Elden Lookout Road gate and ran Elden Lookout Road, Brookbank, Little Gnarly, Schultz Pass Road, Rocky Ridge Loop in 1:48 with 1,500 feet of elevation gain).