Lemonade

I made the commitment to run a spring marathon. I knew that this would mean winter training, and that’s why I did it. I figured the goal would give me good training focus and get my butt out the door during the long Michigan winter.

Little did I know, this year would be a real Michigan winter. One of those winters like we used to have.

I’m a trail runner. I’ll run the roads…if I have to, but trails are my terrain of choice. Indoor running is not an option. I don’t own a treadmill, and I don’t want to. I’ll ride my bike on the Computrainer during the winter, but treadmill running isn’t for me. Luckily, I live in a rural, wooded area, and over the years I’ve created my own trail network, which begins right out my back door.

My training partner is Oakley. "Oaks" is my 5-year-old Golden Retriever who also loves to trail run. I can always count on her. Whenever I change into my running gear, or say the words, "wanna go for a run?" she goes ballistic. In fact, she goes nuts just at the mere mention of the word "run". She whines until I open the door, then she leaps off the porch and continues leaping in the air until I hit stride. The only times Oakley doesn’t accompany me on runs are those over 10 miles and runs on busy roads. (Those are the days I have to spell the word r-u-n and sneak out the back door.)

She’s smart too. Sometimes I’ll tell her we’ll go for a run "tomorrow" or "in the morning". She’ll stay cool, and won’t get all excited at that moment, but next morning she’ll be all antsy and ready to go when I wake or return home from work. She’s amazing!

The fall trail runs were great, lots of bright colors and no mosquitoes. Early December brought light snowfalls, but nothing you couldn’t easily run in.

By mid-December the snow got a little bit deeper and I brought out the running snowshoes. If you haven’t tried snowshoe running, I highly recommend it. It’s great. Running trails on snowshoes is quiet, low impact, and with 2-3 pounds per leg, it’s a great quad workout. Just don’t be concerned with your pace. If you think trail running slows you down, snowshoes add another minute or two per mile.

One evening in early December I decided to go for a 6-mile snowshoe run. It had been snowing the last few days, and it was starting to build up. The woods were absolutely beautiful. I eagerly strapped on my snowshoes, ready to start my run. It was early in training, and this was to be an easy-HR run. Oakley & I headed out the door. "Wow, this is deep." I thought.. I went about 200 yards and my heart rate was already at 85% of max with no sign of falling. "This was not supposed to be an interval workout", I thought, but there was no "easy running". Just walking in the heavy, deep snow put my heart rate at 70%.

I was still determined to get this workout in, and running the snow-covered roads at night was not an option. I shuffled my way back to the house. The snowmobile was sitting in the garage ready to go. I decided I would take the machine out and pre-pack my 6-mile trail loop. "Shouldn’t take too long", I thought. By my figuring, if it took 45-50 minutes to run this loop, it should only take 15-20 minutes to pre-ride it and pack it down. Wrong!

After the getting the machine stuck and buried for the third and fourth time, I was really wishing that I had changed out of my tights and thin poly shirt into something a bit more substantial. I got stuck on every hill I tried to ride up. Finally, after an hour and a half of fighting the deep snow, and digging out the machine, I had the whole trail packed down. I returned home and changed into some dry running clothes. I strapped the snowshoes back on and Oakley and I headed out for an excellent nighttime run.

Nobody said winter running in Michigan would be easy! Ha, take that Mother Nature!

While Oakley loves running in the snow, she does have this persistent problem with snow packing up under her feet. It packs on the fur in-between her pads and toes forming little crusty snowballs. I imagine it would be like running on marbles or golf balls. As soon as I see her stop and start gnawing at her feet, I know it’s time to pull over and dig out the packed snow. She’s then good for another half-mile or so, and we have to stop and do it again, repeating over and over during the run.

For Christmas I surprised Oaks with a pair of nylon-cordura booties. "Wrap Velcro band firmly around ankle", the directions read. I slid the new booties over Oakley’s paws and strapped them on tightly. I figured I would let her try them out inside the house. For the next few minutes the whole family laughed hysterically as Oakley plodded around the house flapping her feet like some kind of drunken duck.

Then came the real test. We headed outside for a Christmas morning run, Oakley leaping in the air as she usually does when we step outside. She leaped into the deep snow bank along the driveway, did a small loop on the lawn and jumped back on the drive. "But wait, now she’s only wearing one bootie." It seems the other three booties made a quick exit and now lay under the 15" of snow. Well, so much for that "great idea".

I ended up writing the company we purchased them from saying we’d be returning them…in the SPRING when we finally FIND them!

My best winter running experience had to be last month. It started one Friday when the temperatures soared from the seasonal 20"s & 30’s, up into the upper-50’s. It also rained hard all day. All this was on top of the 8" or so of existing snow cover.

That night the forecast was for falling temps, back into the lower twenties. This would mean that all the puddles and slushy snow now on the ground would turn to solid ice by morning.
I was scheduled to run 18 the next day, and I cringed at the thought of running it on roads (especially since my "non-canine" running partner was out of town). Faced with this option, I decided on another "plan".

My scheduled run that evening was an 8-miler. Before I headed out (in the 50 degree rain!) I stuffed $5 in my pocket. I had a stop to make. About 4 miles away was the local hardware store. I ran to the hardware, purchased a couple of dozen "hex-head sheet metal screws" and ran home. That night I screwed about 16 of them into each the soles of an old pair of road shoes. ‘Voila!’ - Instant homemade spikes!

The next morning I woke to sunny blue skies and a cool 15 degrees. Bright sunshine in the winter is a real treat in Michigan and I was instantly in a great mood. Oakley and I drove to the local Recreation area. As expected, the trails were solid ice and crusty snow. There wasn’t a soul there––we "owned" the place. The rain and ice had kept everybody away, including the usual weekend snowmobilers, bikers and other runners.

Oakley and I hit the trails. The new spikes rocked! The trails were solid shiny ice, but I was running up and down the icy hills like they were bare dirt. Uphill, downhill, it didn’t matter, I was sticking like glue. In fact I think I ran my best time ever for the 9-mile loop. Oakley wouldn’t let me put screws in her pads, so she stuck to the edge of the trail. I occasionally had to help push her up the hills.

This run, which had sounded so miserable the day before, turned out to be one of my best runs ever.

It just goes to show, when Michigan weather throws you some lemons, just gather them up and make lemonade! You’ll be glad you did.