Running in the Snow

Week Ending: 31st December 2017
MONDAY:
Off
TUESDAY:
2 hour.  Foulshiels Hill. Mixture of Road, Trail and SNOW!!
Running in the snow is one of life's great pleasures and of course, something I very seldom get to experience. Well, today we received an incredible gift and woke to a fresh blanket of the white stuff covering the town and the surrounding hills. Once we had made a snowman, thrown a bunch of snowballs at each other, and run back inside to defrost our aching hands it was time to head out for a run. I had been checking out the hills around Selkirk with the help of an OS map and decided on a obvious looking peak, Foulshiels Hill. Close enough to run to from home, but high enough and far enough away to feel like an adventure.  I found the snow covered trail easily enough and the fresh snow was not slippery, especially with my fell running shoes (Inov-8 X-Talon 200). As I got higher the trail all but vanished and I was forced to break a path through the powder.  Scottish hills are usually covered in a thick layer of heather and adding a 20cm layer of snow on top makes for tricky footing.  Fortunately, there were no unexpected holes to twist an ankle and the trip to the top was made without incident.  Running down again was akin to running flat out down a sand-dune. Each footfall was a accompanied by about a half metre slide through the fresh powder, like wearing shoes with 50cm deep cushioning. A great buzz and a wonderful way to round off Christmas.
WEDNESDAY:
Off
THURSDAY:
Off
FRIDAY:
Off
SATURDAY:
Off
​SUNDAY:
30 minutes. Road run around Selkirk.
Last little run in Scotland. Most of the snow has melted in the town although the tops of the hills still have a good covering.