"Nice Run"

Trail head on a less-snowy day

I woke up on President's Day morning to some light snow mist. At the early hour of 5 AM, my Honda was dusted with snow. By 8 AM, when I headed out the door to run, a solid 2" of the white stuff coated the entire west side of my car.

The drive to the Big Rivers Regional Trail was a slow one. The plows hadn't hit the side streets of Donald Ave and Lentendre, making the hill down to Highway 13 a bit treacherous. The normal cruising speed of 50 mph on Highway 13 was reduced to a slow 30 mph.

The parking lot for the Big Rivers Regional Trail surprisingly contained a couple of cars. I headed southwest on the trail to run into the wind on the out portion of the run. Sharp snow sliced into my checks and froze on my beard. The sunglasses and cap I wore to protect my eyes gave me a decent view of the trail, and the screw studs drilled into the bottoms of my Kinvaras allowed for some traction on the fresh blanket of snow.

For the first mile, I followed a bike tire trail and a set of footprints. Wondering if I would catch up to the pedestrian, I climbed the bridge off the Big Rivers Trail to the trail paralleling I-494 toward Bloomington. Soon, I came to the other runner, now headed in my direction. "Beautiful day for a run!" he said. "It is!" I said.

Turning around a couple of miles from the trail head, I ran with the wind to my back. My sunglasses quickly fogged up, but after giving them a couple of swipes with my mittens, I could see just enough to stay on the trail.

When I arrived back to my Honda, I found the words, "nice run" scrawled on my windshield, presumably drawn by the gloved finger of the runner I'd passed on the 494 trail. It was a nice day for a run.

Happy Running!