Home!!

Sunday the family headed to NJ to have our Christmas with Rick's folks. It's nearly an eight hour trip so no running that day. One nice note about the drive; We saw so many hawks we were calling it "the Cluster Hawk to the Granparents". Also there were easily over 100 swans on a short stretch of water, the Muscoot Reservoir, along Rte 684 in NY. When I used to drive that way on the way home from college, I'd be amazed if I saw a three or four.

Monday, Rick and I drove to the shore to run. The temperature was in the high 30's with brilliant blue skies. No matter where we picked to run, the sand was very loose, even at water's edge. Reminded me of running in the loose snow before the snowmobile trails were packed. Even though it was very tough going, we had a good time. I think it might be the best time to run on the Jersey shore. We may have passed 5 people during our 4 miles. I decided to run the roads back to Rick's folks, but opted to change into my road shoes first. It was only 2.5 more miles, but it felt good to open up a bit. I chuckled to myself at the couple other runners I saw - They were so bundled up!

Tuesday I headed out from the house solo. Ran to the ocean and back for a nice 5.

Wednesday, Ryan, Rick, and I headed to a county park. Rick thought they'd done some of their cross country runs there in high school. If so, the trails were gone or at least paved. Still it was good to be out of traffic. We also got a laugh at one of the signs heading into the park. I think everyone has seen the fire threat signs at parks, well, this one had an icy road condition sign with the same graphic. We were informed that there was a moderate chance of icy conditions. The temp was well above freezing. It did look like the paths had snow on them, but they were just heavily salted. NJ doesn't do snow well. We ran helter-skelter for what we guessed was five miles.

Yesterday was another travel day. More hawks, swans, and deer.

Today, very happy to be home, I headed back onto the snowmobile trails. Since we had a high of 39 I was a little worried the trail would be too soft - It was the best conditions of the winter!! Got in a little over 5 miles.

All along I've been dealing with an annoying cold. I practically had to isolate myself on the trip because I cough non-stop and would keep everyone awake. I know I kept me awake. Rick and I are planning on heading to Bradbury tomorrow. I just hope I'm not too annoying to other Monsters with all the hacking.