Foggy Morning

I planned on running 4 miles to the store and another 4 miles with the group this morning.  For whatever reason I was a little head of schedule and decided to try out my new 6 mile route to the store.  Stepping outside I was amazed by how foggy it was.  Normally when we have fog in the morning the wind is dead calm.  This morning the wind was blowing around 7-10 mph without really disrupting the fog at all.  The temp was just above freezing, but there was patchy ice nearly everywhere. In some spots there was just a little water sitting on ice which made things very slippery.  

I knew that most of the wide sidewalks in our neighborhood had been cleaned off so I stuck to them instead of running in the street.  Unfortunately the melting snow had not drained very well yet and half a mile from the house I already had wet feet.  I almost always swear when I step in a puddle but today I wasn't really worried about it.  I've run in wet shoes enough now that I know they will dry somewhat quickly if I could keep out of the water. As I started to head north I was in a residential area and moved out into the middle of the street to find better footing and to dry off and soon forgot about the wet feet. As I was leaving that neighborhood I turned on my headlamp as I was nearing the dark gravel road I've grown so found of.  The fog was dense enough that most of the light seemed to reflect back into my eyes and and I chose to run in the dark instead. After the gravel road there isn't much for sidewalks until I get back onto 9th Street I tend to be somewhat concerned about traffic along 32nd Ave.  The few streetlights there are along that stretch did a good job of illuminating the area despite the fog and with it being as early as it was I saw no one driving until I'd reached 9th and turned onto the sidewalk. As I ran north again I checked my pace and the time and saw that even with the longer route I should be reaching the store right on time.  This was a bit of a relief because I had been slowing down more then expected because of ice and having to put the strap back on the headlamp after I had adjusted it.  I was a little surprised to see footprints in the light frost on the ground indicating that someone else had already been out this morning.   Crossing the interstate I started to wonder if I would see Heather and Cassie start their runs.  They tend to leave a little early and when I come this way I normally pass then along 17th Ave.  A few minutes later I could start to make out the dark form of a runner up ahead and saw that Heather was alone this morning.  We said good morning as we passed and I continued on to the store to meet up with Erin.

When we left the store Erin and I ran with Jerry, Penny and Lamont.  Lamont was struggling a little this morning and turned back after a mile so he could reopen the store if Heather got back early from her run. Penny, Jerry, Erin and I stuck together for the rest of the 4 mile loop.  We kept a good pace, faster then I was going on my way to the store.  It was nice running with them and the rest of the run seemed to go quickly. Overall it was a great run in some interesting weather.