The allowed 'spring (non-running) break' expired today. I needed to get back 'on the road again' regardless of the conditions. It was snowing lightly beginning early in the morning and it appeared the condition would continue into the foreseeable future. If the temperature did increase slightly, the best that could be expected was a cold rain. So, with those environmental conditions in mind I needed to decide between running on the treadmill or running in the snow.
There were no large pellets of ice in the falling precipitation, and that seemed good. I did wear my clear-view/yellow lens safety glasses; at least for the first mile; at which point they were so covered with wet blotches that seeing through them was a non-starter. So, the run continued up the blacktop without the glasses. In a couple of places along the route, deer bounded over the meadow fence, crossed the road, and bounded over the fence on the opposite side. They looked at me as though to say, 'is that guy crazy!? the only reason we're out here is because we have to live in the woods!!', I didn't answer back, at least not loud enough that they could hear me; not through the wind and blowing snow, and rain, anyhow!
Six miles was the target for the run today. I didn't even think about running up the gravel road. It looked more like a sliding quicksand stream to me when I jogged passed the turnoff. I continued up the blacktop, totally refreshed as through in a nice cool shower (kind of, anyway, I was soaked).
I didn't see any other runners. I didn't see any other exercisers of any kind, in fact. That is, until just before the blacktop ended. There, I met a woman who was being walked by four black and white dogs (some kind of terriers, I think, maybe). She said they got kind of soaked, too. It looked like it! I felt better! Since it was not a terrific day for small talk the chat ended soon and I continued another few hundred yards to the end of the blacktop/white-top. There was enough snow accumulating at the higher elevation near the turnaround that the road turned to all snow just as the blacktop ended. I walked up another hundred yards or so to see how the gravel road was: pretty soft and muddy was the answer. So, at that point, I turned around and began the faster (but still wet) return to the ranch.
The distant tree lines were invisible in the continuing snow/rain mix.
As I passed a small group of horses, I noticed they were standing under the overhang of some evergreen trees to stay out of the snow. I could swear I saw their mouths moving as I jogged by, but I wasn't close enough to read their lips or hear what they were saying; I could only imagine that it was something like 'why are you out running in the snow and rain, dear?'; who knows? If they had been cows I would have known that they weren't actually talking, since cows chew their cud; these were horses though, so I knew they were talking about me!
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