I went out to Bradbury Mountain this morning with Erin to meet up with the Trail Monsters. It was a smaller crowd this week, and conditions were a little tougher to run in.

The snow was packed down but not very solid, so there was a lot of slipping and sliding, especially off of the power line trails which thankfully had been groomed.

On the groomed sections, we were running around 8 minute pace; the rest of the way we ran mostly 10-12 minute pace.

I was pretty tired by the time we got back to the park, but I wanted another mile or 2 and Erin wasn’t at the car anyway. I decided to try heading out on the boundary trail, but thankfully I saw Erin coming down it in her snowshoes before too long because conditions weren’t great if you didn’t have them.

She ran for about 70 minutes and then snowshoed the rest of the time I was out running.

It was very cold at the start, between -1 and -6 depending upon if you were in the sun or not. My hydration pack tubing was frozen solid even though there wasn’t much water in it so I wasn’t able to use it until mile 9 after running a few miles with the backpack under my jacket and the tub stuffed between my back and the bag.

After that, I just had a 4 inch cylinder of ice that I eventually managed to get to slide around inside the tube enough to get a little water around it, which then melted it pretty quick so I was able to drink the water and not just carry it for the last 6 miles.

I also got to try out the ice spikes for the first time, and they worked out pretty well. They were very comfortable, and helped on some of the downhill sections. I’m looking forward to trying them out in icy conditions.

Once we got back to the parking lot, Erin drove me home while I finished off the remaining gummy bears and ate a partially frozen banana.

As soon as we got home, I changed into some road flats and ran out the door for the last 7½ miles.

I figured that a 4th hour running on the roads was probably better than a 4th and 5th hour running in the snow.

This part of the run was pretty uneventful. There was one lap dog getting walked that tried to jump on me, but the owner just held the leash over his head so that the dog spun his wheels trying to run off the ice on the side of the road once I was near by. It was pretty funny.

Once I got home (again), I’ve basically been eating non-stop. Half a grapefruit, some left over ghoulash, and a lot of mixed nuts and crackers with some green tea have been on order so far, although I expect to keep eating all afternoon when I’m not napping.

Here are today’s numbers:

Miles Projected: 23 Miles (276 Miles Total)
Miles Run: 15.54 & 7.48 Miles for 23.02 miles today (284.9 Miles Total)
Duration: 2:56:47 & 58:09 for 3:54:57 Today (45:01:34 Total)
Rolling 7 Day Weekly Total: 141.2 miles (Most I’ve Ever Run in 1 Week!)
Net Weight Change: -1½ Pounds (+1½ Pounds Total)

Don’t forget, if you get cable television, then Nickelodean will be airing a special about Camp Sunshine tomorrow! Check your local listings and if you can watch it, let me know how it is. We don’t get cable. Here’s more information about the show:
http://updates.pressherald.mainetoday.com/updates/camp-sunshine-to-be-featured-on-nickelodeon