Snow run

I love when the weekend rolls around because not only does it mean there's no work or school but it also means I can get out and run in the daytime! It started snowing again on Friday night so I knew I'd want to get out on Saturday but I didn't think the CaniX run at Vogrie would be an option as I don't like driving the van in bad weather. In a way it was lucky there was a mini blizzard outside our bedroom window when we woke up were woken up by Ruby at 8am, as it meant I didn't even have to think about whether to risk it or not, I just wouldn't go!

A more leisurely morning ensued and by the time I got up and started thinking about a run Matt and Ruby had already decided they would be going sledging, so the morning was free for me to do my own thing. I swithered about taking Nethy as I wanted to do at least 10 miles, but it seems daft to go without her as she would need to go out for a walk later anyway,  so we harnessed up and out we went into the snow (which was now falling lightly from the sky).

Running in snow is a lot like running in sand! The effort is always doubled and the cold usually makes your body work harder too. I have to wear my Inov8 Terroc GTXs for this type of weather and although they are amazing for keeping your feet dry and toasty and gripping the slippy ground they are very bulky and heavy (compared to my Roclites or my other minimal shoes).

I decided not to go too far from Haddington in case the weather got too bad, so I did one of our routes and added a loop. It was a mixture of trail and road, but the roads were very quiet ones so there was a lot of snow on them which made a nice change from tarmac. Nethy was free running for most of the way but I had her on her line on the roads and my only issue with these long lines is that they get in the way if the dog isn't pulling at full length. Sometimes I'd just hold the slack like a lead but eventually I hooked the carabiner directly onto the main body of the harness (rather than the mini line that extends from the waist part) so this shortened it to about the right length for the distance Nethy was in front of me. There was no way I wanted her to pull at full pelt for 10 miles as she would have been exhausted! It is great being hands free though and at no point did I feel like I wanted to revert back to a normal lead.

By the time we got home the sky was even darker and both of us were tired. Luckily I'd made some soup so I wolfed that down and felt almost human again. I was glad to get out for a longer run as mostly I've been doing short sessions and because I'm a pretty slow runner Nethy can cope with that distance no problem. It was nice to have the company as we hardly saw another soul when we were out!

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