When Mother Nature Hurts .... You Walk

Not my footprints. 

Or at least I do. When I left the house this morning it was 12 degrees. When I arrived at Valley Forge it was 13 and the hourly forecast predicted 20 by the time I completed my (planned) 5 mile run around the loop. I had 4 layers on top; 2 on the bottom; and 2 on my hands and head. I forgot to goop up my face or bring a scarf. Either one would have made a difference.

I set out planning to stick to 1 minute walk and finish the mile running. It became evident very quickly that that was not going to work. I switched to 1 minute walk; 2 minute run. Still it was too cold. As slow as I am, the running portion put just enough breeze on my face that it hurt. It really hurt. I tried shrugging my face into the collar of my outer layer. I tried covering my face with my gloved hands. Neither was conducive to successful running (especially on top of the snow). The gloved hands on my face also fogged up my sunglasses.

I thought about turning around and going home. I was less than a half mile into the distance. Instead I decided to walk the loop. I know that sounds like an even worse idea, right? Walking would leave me out doors longer. But the sun was shining and while walking I could keep my face covered by my hands or collar as needed.

I can not begin to describe how beautiful it was. I took some photos but truly they do not do the views justice. At one point the sun was at just the right angle and brightness that the snow sparkled. It looked like someone had dropped little diamonds across my path.

And did I mention it was cold? I found myself looking out across the fields wondering how cold was

Mt Joy in the distance with Wayne's Woods at my back

it in that Winter of 1777. It was cold enough in 2019 to keep most (sane) people off the trail that early. I had the loop to myself for the first hour. It was so quiet I could hear the train whistle in the distance in between the squishing of the snow under my feet.

I'm sorry that I didn't run as planned. Yet I would have missed all the details if I had been concentrating on running. The "slow-build-up-the-miles-plan" I'm on leaves plenty of wiggle room for days like this and I'm especially grateful for that today.