~5 miles @ ~9 min/mi

The trail through the woods near work is plowed and scraped clean of snow. Amazingly, before 8:15am someone has already gone around the loop sprinkling blue salt mix on patches where yesterday's melting ice refroze overnight. Yay for the groundskeepers! First recon lap shows only a few dangerous places, but also reveals bright orange spray-paint spots on the crusty snow surface — huh? Perhaps they're marking the paths of underground cables? There are also a few green mini-flags in a line, and a couple of pink ribbons tied to tree limbs. Temps in the upper 20s make legs turn red. Pace for marked miles accelerates: 9:26 ⇒ 8:26 ⇒ 7:36 ⇒ 7:08 with sweating brow and racing heart.

^z - 2011-02-15