Status Update and a New Contest
Well, I am almost halfway through the 1 More Mile for Sunshine challenge in terms of the number of days I’ll be running (13½ out of 31 days), but I am only about 20% of the way through the total number of miles that I’ll be running (107 out of 500+ miles).
For the first few days of the challenge, it was snowing constantly, so I’ve done almost all of my running in relatively slick conditions.
Being prepared for Winter running isn’t just what you are wearing, it’s also how you are running. I’ve broken through the ice a few times, which caused me to fall once so far, but otherwise I’ve kept my feet and have so far been injury free. I put some tips together about staying upright in snow or on ice while running over at the Challenge website if you want to take a look.
One of the suggestions that I have is to improve the traction on your shoes, either by buying something to strap around your feet or by just drilling some screws straight into the soles of them.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that with all of the extra trail running I’ve already done this year is that my screws are basically toast and already need to be replaced. I ran about 70 miles each in December and so far in January using one of my pairs of screw shoes (about 137 miles total) and so far I’ve lost 3 screws in one shoe, 2 screws in the other shoe, and have at least a few screws in each shoe that I’m not sure I’ll be able to get off they are so worn down.
And that leads into this week’s contest over at the challenge website…
IceSpike has been generous enough to sponsor the contest with two packages of their IceSpikes, which are like sheet metal screws on steroids. They have a self cleaning design and are supposed to last longer than your shoes (minimum 500 miles.) I’m looking forward to giving a set of them a try.
Until I get the chance, though, I’ll just settle for finding the time to replace the screws in my trail shoes…
If you want to give them a shot, then just click here to leave a comment on the contest page.

When you are running at the edge of a road (or along a grassy hill or on a beach, for that matter) you may sometimes notice that the road isn’t exactly flat. The reason for that is because most roads have a camber to them that helps water drain off of them rather than pooling up in the center of the road.
Unfortunately, about a mile and a half later, I’d discovered just what an engineering marvel modern cars are.
In fact, damage to a nearby telephone pole was originally called in as part of my accident until the officer realized that there was no way that either car could have hit it.
Runners are presented with a unique challenge during hunting season that they rarely have to worry about for the rest of the year. Usually, we do not really have to worry about getting shot while we are out getting our run in, but in many areas of the country that could be a real possibility right now or in the near future.
I sometimes confuse people when they ask me how many times I run per week and I tell them that it’s usually somewhere between 8 and 10 times. 













