Snow and Mud and Snow

This week I decided to train on the treadmill during the week to avoid the outside cold. I was surrounded by sickness at home and work and figured running outside wouldn't help me. Turns out I couldn't avoid it and I started getting a cold Saturday evening.

[Left: snow on Grove Creek trail] For running, I did 6.2 miles both Tuesday and Thursday, with spinning and yoga on Monday and Friday (only spinning on Wednesday). Friday and Saturday a moist pacific storm hit the Wasatch Front, so it made determining where to run on Saturday challenging.

Starting around noon at Grove Creek, it had been snowing for a bit so the trail was well covered. Nobody had been up since this storm, so I was breaking trail. I got 1.3 miles up and decided to turn around (was getting a little dicey), and add some mileage along the Bonneville Shoreline trail. Starting on the Bonneville, it was mostly muddy, with occasional snow. [Right: mud along the Bonneville] I got about 2.8 miles out and came into a construction area that had chewed up the road, and the mud was thick and getting difficult, so I decided to turn around. Getting back to Grove Creek, it had begun to snow thick again. Parts of the trail that had not been snow covered earlier had begun to pave white. I got a mile up and decided to turn back. A group on horseback had started up Grove Creek and turned onto a different trail about .8 miles up, so I thought I'd explore a new trail a little. The snow was getting quite heavy and I was beginning to lose their trail, so I decided to turn back.
[Left: snowy finish] Getting back to the trailhead, I added a short quarter mile out and back to make it an even 12 miles. Due to unfavorable conditions (snow and mud), it took me longer (3:12), and I was probably suffering from the cold that had yet to hit me full force.