So that's it. 2010 is done.

Friday 12/31 (12.4mi, 1h 44m, 8:24/min)

I got one last run in today to finish out the year. As I did last New Year's Eve I drove out to Crescent Valley Forest to run on the trails. Does two years in a row make it a tradition? Last year it was pouring and I was soaked from the rain and constantly avoiding huge puddles. Today's high temp was in the low 30s as it was yesterday which meant that there was a dusting of snow on the and everything was generally frozen. Every step was just as I ran on the thin layer of snow and frozen mud / grass. There were still plenty of puddles but they were all frozen over, which made them even more hazardous than usual. I've only run at Crescent Valley Forest once before so I didn't know where I was going. I brought a map with me and tried to make the biggest loop I could. I missed a few turns here and there and didn't worry about pace. I just enjoyed my day on the trails. Running on the snow and the narrow trails was nice but I forgot how much harder running on real trails is than running on the roads or light trails. I was well worn out after a large loop and then a small loop. I did pretty well with the clothing choice: tights under running pants, base layer, S/S shirt under a L/S shirt, thick knit hat, Drymax socks and my Cascadias. The only bad choice was my gloves. They were too thin and I only lasted about an hour with them before I had to pull out my thick gloves. I'll have to look into getting a medium weight pair of gloves for cold runs like this. One minor annoyance was catching my foot on a very small but sharp tree stump. It caught the toe of my left foot and left a two-inch tear in the mesh upper of my shoe. Luckily I'm 300 miles into the Cascadias, so I won't be running in them much longer. I would have been bummed if that happened to the MT 101s.

Some photos from the run: