7 miles (accidentally)

After the good vibes I felt from last night's run, I mapped out a 4.5 mile run that I could do before we headed to class this morning. I knew that it was going to be snowy and slippery and with my on/off vision, I thought I better stick to someplace familiar.

The beginning of the run was down a steep slope for about 1/3 mile on newly fallen sleet. Because there was so much early morning traffic (at 6am?), I decided to reverse my course and run along 5th Avenue instead of crossing in to the Carnegie Mellon University campus. I'm a smart guy, I can run a reversed course, right?

There is a gentle slope on 5th Avenue heading in to the Squirrel Hills neighborhood. I slipped and skidded along the sidewalk, jumping out in to the road when ever traffic was clear. I got to my turn and immediately started climbing. The weather was chilly, but I felt great running in it. When people told me they preferred running in cold weather, I never believed them, but now I understand it. Crisp, refreshing and soothing.

I ran and ran starting to wonder when my next turn was going to appear. Sometimes, a distance feels longer than it should. Today was one of those days. When I checked my time, I realized that I had been running nearly 30 minutes, which is way too long even taking icy sidewalks in to consideration. I decided to turn back and just retrace my steps. That worked pretty well until I noticed that I could no longer see my footsteps in the snow. Being the well-versed orienteer that I am, I made a series of turns and ended up in a cemetery and then exactly at the point where I had, at first, turned around.

I tried again, discovered the error of my ways and returned to 5th Avenue and then back up the steep slope to my hotel. End result was just shy of 7 miles with three dogs, two lost ways, and one cemetery adventure to boot.