Club run in snow....not in snow...in snow

Snow. Nice to look at, nice to run in when it's fresh, but why can't it just disappear all at once never to re-appear until it's ready to snow hard? Last night I appeared at the club to find JR heading out to do hill reps, but cutting back on the reps per set per hill, if you follow me, that meant I would have had to do an extra rep on my own per set or do a full set of hills after the rest finished. Steph meantime was staying off the hills as he is doing the Carnethy 5 on Saturday and decided to do a 10miler out into the cycle track besuide the A82 beyond thge Carrick Golf Course and return. So 4 of us set off on that with Steph and Geraldine taking it a bit slower than yours truly and Brian. Mainly good surface for running but every now and again we would hit slushy, slippy snow or rutted crunchy stuff that does nothing for me except tighten the muscles in preparation for what my pea-sized brain anticipates...... a fall!
Fortunately I didn't fall but by the time I hit the climb out of Duck Bay on the old Luss road, the one covered in aforesaid crunchy icy stuff my muscles were tighter than a tight thing and I had to stop for a stretch and slow down. A pity because it was a nice run until then, apart from the white stuff!
Checking my e-mails this morning I found this from my neice and I post it without comment except to say that it continues the driving theme that the Subversive Runner started on his site.

A golf course round

Quite then best fun I've had on the course for a long time. £700 better off and free of club regulations prohibiting me from running thereon, I set off over the snow clad fairways for a bit of fun; additional to what I'd have on a schedule,as I'd normally have a day off on Monday. However a slower than normal Sunday run and a cancellation by Linda of a scheduled massage gave me a window to have a run on the course, as my now ex-fellow members sat in the lounge looking wistfully at the snow and wishing that snow was red in order that the balls would be visible. 18 holes, in reverse, meant I ran the steepest hill right at the start, although that gave me the benefit of running the 17th downhill. Steep and known to club members as "Heart Attack Hill", in memory of a past captain whose sudden death on the slope I had to report to the Procurator Fiscal some years ago. The first mile was a long one by Garmin as due to a lost pin I had it in my pocket and therefore the 11.57 was ridiculously inaccurate for a mile! The course is a hilly one and run in reverse mainly has the hills in the first nine. Now carrying the Garmin in my hand, 8.30 was a bit more like it for mile 2 and 7.07 and 7.30 reflected the mainly down hill aspect of the "front nine" again in reverse. About 2 or 3 inches of snow pretty much all the way round meant that I had my wits about me as it was shallow enough to allow some sliding, but the Inov8 Mudrocs, hardly used since being purchased 4 or 5 years ago, kept me firmly on course with only a couple of blips, mainly due to lack of concentration, stretching the tendons. Good fun, and I'm looking forward to repeating it in better weather, although greens staff and early morning members will require me to run at first light to avoid disrupting play. Forecast for more snow Tuesday and Wednesday gives rise to the hope of at least two more similar runs that will insure against being unable to run on roads later in the day.
Popped into The Coachhouse for some coke and soup, and found myself talking to a wee guy who's (apparently!)in the pub most days. Turns out he's an ex Comrades marathoner, who did most of his running in S.Africa but now walks most days on the Clydeshore or Carman. Tales of his running days made the soup so tasty I came home and put a pot on!