After a month I'll share what I've been up to and the results.
If you're just here for adventures and pictures...
In January I amped up training for my first attempt at an ultra marathon - the Uwharrie Mountain Run. Increased training including running on the frozen days of January.
Frozen and winterized Umstead still has nice views. This is on Sycamore trail:
Some more visible ice
Bundled up for cold runs. I love my Buff!
The glasses in the picture are my biking-running-all purpose athletic glasses. They have transitions lenses. From the inside I never notice the tint. Pictures showing the tint always amaze me. I did have occasion to notice the tint today. I stopped for gear adjustment and laid the glasses down. When I put them on there was an obvious line in the lenses. What? How'd that happen? I put them down with half the lenses exposed to the sun and the other half in the shade. These aren't the new Iridium(?) tint. They get crystal clear for night riding and running. And they get sufficiently dark in the daylight; I just don't notice from the inside.
Loblolly trail has been rerouted away from an bridge and onto this rock crossing. Fun until the water gets deep!
The Uwharrie Mountain Run didn't work out. I didn't even make it to the start. Wednesday night before the race I got sick. I had focused on my core for the race and still vomited hard enough to make my abs sore. Thursday I ate nothing. Friday I was feeling bold and socially enabled. I ate proper pre-race meals. That didn't work out. My stomach wasn't ready for solid or plentiful food. Relapse #1. Saturday was no food again. Sunday was soft foods. Monday I felt good and had a big salad for lunch. Bad idea. Relapse #2. I finally learned my lesson and stayed on soft foods until late in the week. It wasn't an "A" race for me but as it turns out I was really looking forward to it. Missing the race really hit me hard and that compounded being sick.
Finally this was Saturday's snowfall:
It snowed all day as far as I was aware. Next event on the calendar is Umstead Marathon.
