Blizzard?!?!

Pictures from April 2008 "Blizzard"

Not a lot of snow, just a lot of wind. They were predicting a foot or more of snow, starting at 7:00 pm last night. We waited and waited... 10:00 pm and no snow, winds were picking up though. Radar showed an interesting development. There was a 'doughnut' over the head of the lake, no snow falling in Duluth/Superior. By midnight the snow had started to fall - finally! It was wet and heavy and combined with the winds led to this:



The following pictures were taken in Lincoln Park during our afternoon walk. Porter LOVES weather like this. He was acting like a puppy today, big improvement for a guy who has been moving pretty slowly of late.





The walk wasn't too bad, despite winds gusting past 40 mph from the northeast until we started heading home and hit a stretch of trail with no protection. Then it was a bit of a struggle! The drifts were interesting, sometimes there was hardly any snow, other times I was in drifts that went past my knees.

Jon and I took it upon ourselves to free a few trees from their burden of snow - and sometimes other trees - while hiking up the Lincoln Park trail. It still amazes me that I live in the middle of the city and have areas like this within walking distance.

Miller Creek (the river in the above photos) is already roaring, and if the predicted temps become reality it will be in flood stage by early next week. Most of the streams in this area are "flashy". They don't have much in the way of headwaters, so rise and fall fast in response to precipitation.



Porter is jumping over Coffee Creek. Jon had to coax him over, then had to coax me over ;-> I was launching off of a piece of snow-covered ice and wasn't 100% convinced I could make the leap without landing in the creek (with the camera).

My feet are dry.

We headed down to Sky Harbor after dinner to ensure the airplanes were still tied down. The waves on Lake Superior could be seen crashing onto the shoreline from a block away. there is a reason they warn folks away from the Lakewalk and breakwaters in a nor'easter! Check out mnbicyclecommuter.blogspot.com to see some great photos of the lake and what it is capable of.

Finished the KnitPicks Gloss mittens and have even wore them on a run. Very nice. Contemplating a Bobble-cable hat with the remaining yarn.

So, I am supposed to be running my first 16 miler tomorrow/this weekend. Ummm, about that. It is still very windy in Duluth. By very windy I mean:

Tonight: Snow, mainly before 1am. Low around 22. Windy, with a northeast wind between 25 and 35 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Saturday: A 20 percent chance of snow showers. Cloudy, with a high near 31. Blustery, with a north wind between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
(From the National Weather Service)

On top of this I need to drive to the Twin Cities to pick up my daughter early Sunday morning at the train station.

I have some choices:

1. Run in Duluth on Saturday before I leave for the Cities, fighting the wind for at least half of the run or so, depending on how I arrange the loop.

2. Run on Sunday when I get back, (Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 34. North wind between 5 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. ) when the winds will be lessened and the the sun will be out. Again, fighting the wind for part of the time at least.

Note: options 1 & 2 involve running on the roads as the trails are in a very fragile - and snowy - state right now.

3. Leave for the Cities early tomorrow (as soon as the roads are safe) and run down there at one of the regional parks on... trails!!!

I have been investigating option 3. I am tired of pavement and am concerned that I need to get my legs and feet and brain used to running long distances on trails. I have just over a month left to prep for the Superior 25K.

Any thoughts?