5 Feb 10.5 very slow miles in the snow and slush

With the Watford Half cancelled, I still needed to get out for a long run, so I dusted off my trail shoes for their annual airing and put all my layers of clothing on and set off for Wollaton Park.  The original Training plan run for today was supposed to me a slow 11 miles, but I'd built it up a little longer so I could do fit in Watford as part of the training, so when that was called off my aim was to revert to the original run.  I knew it was going to be tough running on the snow, but it was such hard work -  it was horrible and I was exhausted at the end of it.  

If it had all been nice and compacted it would have been fine, but it was totally uneven, some parts had been well worn in and others were totally untouched snow or just the occasional footprints through it.  Some of it was already defrosting slush and some of it was just deceptive pools of water covered by a dusting of snow. Within the first 2 miles my feet were soaked (I guess that waterproofing I put on my trainers last year has worn off    :-/  )  My legs were killing me by the end of it and had a lovely long soak in the bath afterwards,

On the positive side, it was a gorgeous day and nowhere near as cold as it was yesterday.  It seemed like everyone in Nottingham had gone out to Wollaton with their trays and sledges (a much more sensible idea than running in it ;-)  )  one guy was even crosscountry ski-ing.  I know it wasn't as far or as fast as I was supposed to run, but I reckon my legs definitely had to work harder in the snow and nobody said it was going to be easy so it's had it's benefits.