In short, it’s made my training/exercise/gym/running activities go the way of the dinosaurs-
I then realised that I was stuck on 99 runs for the year, and
had been for the past 11 days of this mini-slump. Like a batsmen stuck
nervously at the crease, I couldn’t get to 100 and raise the bat as easily as
it had been to get to 99. But luckily I’m more of a Matty Hayden than a choking
Shane Watson-type, and finally Sunday morning came around with no plans until a
family Christmas that afternoon-perfect time for a run! Only problem was, there
had been freezing rain falling all throughout Saturday night, resulting in one
of the worst ice storms in recent history, and EVERYTHING outside was covered
in 1-2cms of hard ice.
I nearly reconsidered heading out, but with a power outage
and everyone reminded me how much I’d been bitching to go ice-skating all month
(for the record, I still haven’t been) they said if I went for a run in these
conditions, it’d be basically like ice-skating anyway.
So out I went, with the temperature a surprisingly warm 1
degree. Every branch of every tree was covered in ice. The powerlines, the
cars, everything. Snow covering everything in winter is perfectly normal, but
ice covering everything is rare (although I’ve seen it twice this year-the
other time back in April). I can’t explain the science behind it, but I can
scientifically confirm that every Canadian freaks out about it. No one drives
on the roads, everyone stocks up on food and water and any plans they had get
cancelled, as they are scared of the ice boogey man, or something like that. I
guess some of it is warranted-we are still without power and don’t expect it
back for 3-4 days.
I started my jog down the dirt road, now a mix of dirt,
gravel and slushy ice. With the temperature rising, the ice was slowly but
surely melting, and therefore breaking off violently in golf-ball sized chunks from
every large tree I passed under. The more trees I passed, I realised how much
damage the storm had caused-branches up to 20 feet long snapped off, and some
trees fallen entirely, due to the extra weight of the ice they were now
bearing. Although no powerlines were downed like in the last storm, I could
hear the hum of a tractor idling at each and every house I passed, as the
tractor had been hooked up to their back up generator. I only passed 5 houses,
but still, 5 for 5 is pretty good.
Turning onto a sealed road, the ice became less dangerous
underfoot, but was still keeping my eyes peeled above me. Even in treeless
stretches I heard the crashing of ice onto the snow beside me, and couldn’t
quite work out the reason. I then noticed the powerlines running parallel to
the road-they were covered in a layer of ice as well, and when the wind picked
up it would send long barbs of ice down below, some up to 4 foot long. So my
choice was to run on the left side of the road and avoid the golf ball sized
chunks falling non-stop from the trees, or run down the right hand side and
avoid the long spears falling less frequently from the powerlines. Who said
running wasn’t a contact sport?
Well on this morning it wasn’t…I managed a 10km out-and-back
run and somehow managed to avoid getting hit. Considering it was my first run
in forever I wasn’t setting any goals, and with the conditions (and lack of
fitness) I was slower than Oprah to a salad bar, but I considered it an
achievement to amazingly not get hit by any ice.
It was one of the more surreal runs out of the 100 I’ve done
this year, and getting out and admiring this strange winter wonderland was
definitely the right choice rather than staying indoors.
Ice Ice baby
Behind that thick, manly beard you'll see a tree bending due to the weight of the ice
Trees ready to unleash ice on anyone who passes them
Frozen car (even the antenna)
Wind the window down, and you still have a window. Freaky
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