Running In A Winter Wonderland

I was looking for a photo of the Schuylkill River frozen but couldn't find one but did stumble on this shot of the Fairmount Waterworks w/ the Schuylkill in the background and Boathouse Row in the top right hand corner,to put things into context Fairmount Waterworks is in between Schuylkill Banks and Kelly Drive and give or take 3/4s of a mile from my 5 mile turnaround at Girard Ave bridge.

As the month ends today I fear February may continue where January left off,we're playing the"waiting,watching wondering" game w/ the weather tomorrow and Wednesday, there's talk of snow,ice and rain,if I lose both days I'm screwed for a 50 mile week,one day off wouldn't hurt leading up to a race on Saturday and thus begins the time honoured issue tapering to be at my best for the race verses losing mileage for the week,a happy medium would be to lose one day...like I said waiting,watching,wondering.

Conditions were grey and overcast when I set off at 4.40pm,when I hit Schuylkill Banks it was 30 degrees, cold but not "double layer" weather,things however were about to heat up.
I was seething on the approach to Lloyd Hall when some stupid woman nearly tripped me and another runner w/ her dog leash so I already had a full head of steam up when another runner overtook me as we were coming along by Boathouse Row.
I responded to the challenge or as Barney would say on "How I Met Your Mother" challenge accepted and thus began a 2 mile pedal to the metal chase,unlike Saturday when my would be challenger gave up the ghost w/in half a mile "Smokey" stayed on my tail from Lloyd Hall to Markward Playgrounds,it was a good workout and a timely one if I'm about to "ride the pine" for a day or two leading to Saturdays race in Boston.

On the subject of which I got an email w/ the starting line up of masters milers,some I know,some I've raced,others I've never raced,one thing's for sure if I have to sit out tomorrow and or Wednesday I'll have ample time to google my opponents to see who's ran what times in recent weeks over the mile and see where I stack up,it's about to get crazy in Possumtown!