Sting in the tail

It's the final weekend of the 100 runs in 100 days challenge!

Day 96 today - I hit 100 runs on day 90, and am currently at 107

I'll likely still be running doubles on Saturdays to get extra mileage on top of my runs to the farmers' market, but my focus needs to shift from frequency to duration if I'm to be anywhere near ready for a season of ultras - the first of which is coming up quite quickly at the end of April! 

When all of this snow will (likely) be just a memory

Before any of that, though, I've got something exciting on the docket.

Involving these bad boys

After no snowshoe races at all in 2021, The Flurry is back with a new venue for 2022! One I've actually run at before, for quite a heckin' while actually...but which I've never seen in winter at all.

..and we all know that winter can give trails a very different character.

I also haven't seen the new 4km loop that was used for the 2021 edition of the Sunburn Solstice to avoid the two-way traffic on the out-and-back sections, so while I've been to Marydale Park before, I really don't have any intel on the actual course.

At least with all the snow yesterday it shouldn't be as icy as my last snowshoe run!

I've only got a few snowshoe runs in this year (five to be precise, for a total of just under 33km), and only one of them has actually been anywhere near the 8km race distance for which I'm registered - ok, it was 10km, but everything else (save one ~6.4km outing) has been under 6k. So I'm not actually sure if I can consider myself trained..

..but what else is new, right?

It's probably not ideal that I started pushing mileage last weekend, either, or have had a thoroughly exhausting week of long work hours, grief, terrible running weather, and lack of sleep.

The milder weather was pleasant, but the slush puddles were not - they were deep enough to swap my neoprene toe covers, so my feet froze anyway!

So the plan is, well, the same as it almost always is - just go out there and see what I've got in me.

It's likely to be pretty out with all the snow anyway!

Then, once I've done whatever I can in the "race", I'll see if I've got anything left for another lap or so to make it a double.

I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Wish me luck, friends - I'm gonna need it!