A couple times this year I have run the Back Country Trail at Cloudland Canyon State Park to get some trail running experience.  This is what the trail looked like today.  My friend Greg “Sourdough” Foster took this photo while hiking at the park while I stayed in the slightly warmer valley down below. Just this past Friday I rolled my ankle on this trail and today was my first run since that slight injury.  I stayed away from the frozen trail.

Since I hadn’t run since Friday I decided to put in a couple extra miles.  I did 6.4 miles on an asphalt trail in about 1 hour and 12 minutes.  The ankle felt great, so I’m not worried about it slowing me down.  Actually, I felt good all around with the exception of the frigid 38 degree temperature.  But I was ready: gloves, hat, layered tech shirts and running jacket and pants.  The only thing that I didn’t manage to keep toasty warm were my toes.  I should have put on an extra pair of socks.  But it wasn’t that bad.

I ran the first mile a little fast and had trouble keeping myself in the correct heart rate zone.  I think my body was just trying to keep warm.  I settled in to an 11:30 per mile pace after the second mile.  With just under a mile to go, I decided to ignore the heart monitor and just run at the pace I felt comfortable with.  It was a good finish to a good run.