Merry Christmas!

December 26, 2009

Hamburg Trail aka Humbug Hill

9 miles

ET 1:35:01

Ave Pace 10:33

Starting Temp 26F winds 16 mph some ice on trail

I hope all had a very Merry Christmas!

It was a great Christmas for us! Sally was adorable and excited. She didn't eat much dinner but sure went after the peppermint ice cream. Tommy didn't know what to make of it all and was as interested in an empty box as any of his toys. Susan, as Executive Chef & I as Sous-Chef managed one of our best ever dinners.

As Kevin & Matthew used to say, it was "burrring cold" this morning.....Let's see, ankle brace, shoes, socks, shoe covers, YakTraks, two layers bottom, two tops, plus vest and fleece, gloves, hat, Extreme Masque, fuel belt. Heck by the time I was dressed I was ready for a nap :))!

With a brisk headwind at the start (much better than on the return when you're sweaty) we started off down Hamburg Trail. This gravel trail never seems to be smoothly graded so I was careful to watch my footing running on my injured ankle, I definitely did not want to twist it again. Patches of snow and ice and a few branches on the trail kept our attention. Everyone did very well, surprisingly we finished Humbug Hill close together without much loss of pace. Humbug is 1/2 mile of 6% grade (to put 6% into perspective it means for about every 30 paces we were climbing 6 feet) This section is not part of the Katy Trail since locomotives don't pull that steep of a grade.

My ankle was a bit stiff for the first couple of miles but then began to loosen up and by the end felt fine. I was glad to have the brace to protect against the unsure footing. We barely felt the cold after the first mile and until we finished, then the wind came up again and it was off to the car to get sweaty tops exchanged for dry ones.

We're off to Chicago tomorrow, running clothes will be packed for what should be a very chilly run along Lake Michigan.

"Remember, the feeling you get from a good run a far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running." Sarah Condor

RunGrampyRun