Would've preferred snow

About two weeks ago we got spoiled and the temps hit the upper 30’s, a rare treat for late February in Minnesota. Then last week we got about two feet of snow, and the temps went back to normal (mid teens). Now, we’re in the upper 20’s for highs and low teens at night. And this time of year the sun is at the right angle to melt everything, so long as the sun is shinning and the shadows aren’t there.

This means that within a few hundred feet of running on sidewalks, you will encounter the following: dry concrete, wet concrete, packed snow, ice, unshoveled snow (it stopped snowing five days ago), slush, snirt (snow and dirt mix), puddles, and puddles that look like ice.

I never saw the first deep puddle I hit. A car was waiving me through an intersection, so I jumped over the wall of snow separating the sidewalk from the street. I didn’t realize that this particular wall was not protruding into the street as much as I thought, and I landed right next to a sewer drain, ankle deep in water. I managed to miss most of the puddles the rest of my run. But this first incident happened about a mile into a five mile run, so the damage was done.

At least when you run in a snowstorm, you shoes aren’t ice when you get home.