After three years of good luck with the weather, we were forced to adjust our plans this year due to icy roads in the early morning hours. The start time was pushed back a few hours and Joe, Paul, Mark, and Amanda (accompanied by crew of Bill and Michelle) started about 10 miles south of the PA line at Wolfsville Road. We had a smaller group this year due to babies, illness, travel, and weather. Amanda was hoping to keep her streak going as the only one to complete all three New Year's Eve Maryland Challenges but it was not to be this year.It was chilly at the beginning but the runners warmed up quickly on the first uphill. The trail conditions were surprisingly good (except over the icy rock gardens) with a thin snow cover to give traction (no YakTrax were needed). Other than the steep part coming down from Annapolis Rocks, the trail conditions allowed for good running the entire time. The runners passed lots of campers who had spent the night out in the snow.
The runners were moving faster than previous years despite Amanda fighting a cold. She pushed on until South Mountain, where she wisely stopped. Paul took over baby-duty and headed home, and Mical and Michelle joined the runners (and Megan joined the crew). Michelle, Mical, Joe, and Mark left South Mountain about an hour before sunset and enjoyed the nice snowy trails. It started to rain shortly after dark but we hardly noticed. Unfortunately we couldn't enjoy the full (blue) moon due to the heavy cloud cover. The snow made for a bright night even without the moon, and we observed lots of animal tracks along the way. We met 
Megan at Gathland and made a quick stop; Mark joined Megan as crew. Joe took off ahead followed by Michelle and Mical and we all pushed on to Weverton. We took the switchbacks very slow due to icy conditions but other than that the footing on the trail was very good. We all decided to skip those last three towpath miles into Harper's Ferry (it was getting late and was raining pretty hard). It was a great day of running for all of us and we hope to be back as a larger group and for the full distance again next year!
Megan at Gathland and made a quick stop; Mark joined Megan as crew. Joe took off ahead followed by Michelle and Mical and we all pushed on to Weverton. We took the switchbacks very slow due to icy conditions but other than that the footing on the trail was very good. We all decided to skip those last three towpath miles into Harper's Ferry (it was getting late and was raining pretty hard). It was a great day of running for all of us and we hope to be back as a larger group and for the full distance again next year!
3 comments:
Yay! Such nice, snowy woods... I'm still bummed I had to miss out - already looking forward to next year.
Nice report Mical! Yeah that icy descent down Weverton was pretty interesting. I'm glad I didn't slide part way down. Can't wait for the next exciting run out on the trails.
Wow - you guys are amazing!
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