I love trail running and never considered that I could actually do it in the winter. In fact, this has always been an off-season for me. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I realized that I needed to stay active in the winter too. So I started running on a treadmill. I didn’t like it much though, so whenever the weather was warm enough, I donned my sweat suit and ran outside.

This year, I’ve been running on the trails pretty much all winter. It’s been great. The snow slows me down a little but I’ve still been keeping a good pace.

Today, the trail was treacherous. It might be hard to tell from the featured image on this post, but it was almost completely covered in ice. I was able to run along the side of the trail at sections so I made my way into the woods at a slow pace. Then about a kilometer in, the ice was too much. I had to walk over sections very slowly or risk slipping and falling.

It took me nearly nine minutes to get that first kilometer in. That’s almost double my usual pace. I didn’t want to just turn around and call it a day, so I pushed on. I knew there was an off-shoot to this trail that was paved and I hoped it would have better footing.

I was able to run a 2 km loop on the paved trail without issue. But getting back to my car was going to be a challenge. I needed to face that path of ice again. Worse still, it had started raining and it was getting soaked.

I ran 4 kilometers total in the pace that I could normally cover 5. It was a tough run but I did it!

I think I will just run on roads or paved paths until the snow all melts and spring is here. It won’t be long now. Then trail season will officially be back on!