Blood, sweat, tears, and ice

My long run this week was the scariest run I've ever done. It was a route that I had never done before, recommended to me from one of the cross country runners at the school where I work. In warmer weather, I can imagine that it would be a very nice and much more safe run. Unfortunately for me, there's still a foot of snow on the ground.

Most of the sidewalks were still completely covered in snow. So, I was running on the side of the road for the majority of my run. On one particularly busy road, I was actually running on the road in one of the lanes. Most of the cars moved over to pass me safely, but several did not. It was terrifying. I was by myself, running an unfamiliar route, being passed by cars with only inches to spare between me and the car. At one point, I was so freaked out that I stopped and cried a little bit. Then, I got a hold of myself and kept going.

If the sidewalks had been cleared, they were covered in a thick layer of ice. I slipped, tripped, and busted my butt several times. Maneuvering across snow and ice is tricky. It's important to go slow, watch your step, and hope you don't fall. At one point, I got a little cocky and tried to jump over a snow bank, slipped, fell, and found myself bleeding. Luckily, it was just a scratch.

One road on my route, you couldn't even tell whether there was a sidewalk or not, and running on the side of the road was WAY TOO DANGEROUS. I changed my route and took a road that was safer. It's more important to be safe than to stick to the route you had planned.