BostonBound59

I was forced to take Friday off due to work obligations (only my second day off in January) so we were more than ready to get going Saturday morning when the weather seemed downright balmy (18 degrees at 10:00 A.M. with only occasional wind gusts). What I didn't take into account were the road conditions. We were hit with close to 12" of snow last Wednesday and while the plows made one pass late in the day the temperatures plummeted by early evening preventing the snowplows from finishing the job. I was inside the Hampshire Dome both Wednesday and Thursday so I didn't fully appreciate the extent of the carnage until we were out the door and well down Horace Greely Road, about a mile from our home. Probably 80% of the Amherst-Merrimack-Mont Vernon course (what I call the Tater-Kendall course) was covered in hard packed ice so we spent close to three hours this morning slipping and sliding our way over 20 miles. My screw shoes (see my post of January 7, 2009) were only minimally helpful, skates would have been better. Our overall pace was (gulp) over 9 minutes per mile, 45 seconds-1 minute slower than our usual pace. Total time for today's run: 3:03:55. January mileage total: 285.