It was about 22 degrees when Deb, Linda, Nancy and I met for our 8-mile training walk starting at Worthington Hills Park. It’s been a long time since we have been able to walk outside or for any distance, and we were all suffering from cabin fever.

We were a little concerned when we arrived and there was a lot of ice near the entrance of the park. In fact, we were still worried in the first half mile when we kept hitting large patches of ice.

Luckily, a group of women runners coming from the other direction assured us the trail got better, and we kept going. And they were right — the trail did get better!

We ended up heading straight out 4 miles before we turned around. There were still patches of ice, but it was doable though slow. And after so many weeks not being able to do our long distance training, it felt great!

SIDENOTE

I could not find my favorite water bottle to carry with me. I grabbed the first one I could find and thought nothing of it – until after about 3 miles I realized the back of my pants were wet. I spun my belt around to have the bottle in front and noticed that water was splashing out of the water bottle around the rim! Ugh! I was worried about frostbite and thought about turning around. But the water had been splashing on me for a while, and I had two layers of pants, so I stuck it out. It ended up being fine. When I got home I threw the bottle away.

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