Snowy freedom run in Coventry (21:43)

I must be mad! Running in the snow for the second time in 5 days. But what great fun!

There is no way that today was an ideal day for running. There was a good inch or so of fresh snow covering a layer of ice pretty much all round the parkrun course in War Memorial park in Coventry today. It was treacherous in many places, but that didn't deter Andy and I from either doing or enjoying our freedom run.

The park was a lovely sight, covered in a thin blanket of snow. There weren't very many people about, most of the walkers must have been put off by the snow, but there were still a few. There were probably as many runners as walkers to be honest. All the runners had smiles on their faces, were clearly having a good time and taking it pretty easily. I would say that the conditions almost made it easier to run than to walk.

We decided that it was probably not a good idea to even try for Andy's PB on our freedom parkrun today. The conditions wouldn't have allowed us to get anywhere near it to be honest. Traction was difficult to find on much of the course. We instead agreed to aim for a sub 22 minute run, which we thought was achievable.

We took it steadily enough to be able to talk the whole way round the course. There were a couple of icy patches which nearly caught us out, but we made it safely round the first lap in 11:02. During the second lap we had a bit more confidence as we knew where the tricky stretches were. We picked up the pace and completed the second lap in 10:41 to give an overall time of 21:43. Another run target achieved fairly easily.

It was a pretty comfortable pace today, but I would not have liked to have gone any faster. For once I was able to be happy with just being out running rather than having to push myself like I normally would.

Another freedom run on Friday hopefully, again subject to the weather. Fingers crossed!