I’ve seen the term “polar vortex” thrown around a few times recently in regards to the weather here in Misery (aka Missouri, but right now “Misery” seems to fit).  We had a nearly crippling snow storm earlier this week that made for an interesting midday commute home from my office 32 miles away.  It snowed significantly overnight, and the next day I spent 45 minutes shoveling my driveway to be able to get to work the next day.  I decided the shoveling session was in lieu of my scheduled training run that day.  That’s reasonable, right?

Last night, I had my running gear all set for the today’s run.  I had checked accuweather.com multiple times and had the overnight forecast confirmed by the local meteorologist.  It was going to be COLD (duh!) but we would have just a dusting when we woke.  Imagine my surprise when I started getting texts that we got more than an inch of snow, ON TOP OF the 8″ of snow from earlier in the week.  Our planned running routes were not going to be good.

I experienced some slip-sliding as I headed from my humble abode, but once on the highway, all was good until I got to our meeting location.  No surprise there the lot was covered.  Coaches were checking in with our fearless leader and I saw each head back to their cars and make an addition to their gear… Yak Trax.  That meant, for safety reasons, our route was changing.

Yak Trax!

For those in a fairer climate, you might not be aware of Yak Trax.  Yak Trax are a useful, albeit sometimes challenging, piece of running equipment that is sometimes a necessary evil. Yak Trax fit tightly on the sole of your shoe, from toe to heel.  It doesn’t appear possible to put Yak Trax on without already wearing your running shoes, so it makes for some interesting contortions, pinched frigid fingers, and often less than ladylike words to be uttered.  Once on the shoes, Yak Trax causes a “springy” sensation with every step on a hard surface.  Fortunately (unfortunately?), we were not on a hard surface for long.

Runners head out for some snow covered miles.

Once everyone was gathered, we headed off for our mileage in the Winter Wonderland (aka the polar vortex).  While Yak Trax help some with traction, when the snow sits higher than your ankles, you do a lot of slip sliding anyway.  It’s days like this that it can take a lot to show up to a run when it would be so much easier to stay in your nice warm bed.  My team of mostly new runners stuck with it, kept great attitudes and rose to the challenge.

Thirteen hours post run, I’m feeling every little slip slide in my hip flexors.  Tomorrow will consist of lots of check stretching of some stiff muscles.  Two weeks in a row, it’s been a core muscle group challenge.  That’s ok, though.  What doesn’t kill me will make me stronger.