The crazy weather continued at the Montvale trail races, the fourth race in the RNUTS series. For the first time ever, there was snow at this race. My running buddy, Kim, and I traveled to the race together and when we arrived it was a “balmy” 30 degrees with 20 mph winds and snow.

We picked up our race bibs and shirts and prepared to run. Before we knew it, it was time to head over for the pre-race meeting. At 9 AM we were off and running. Kim and I started the race together and ended up running the whole thing with each other.

The race started out on a grassy path that wrapped around the ball fields and eventually led to the creek crossing a little before mile 1. As expected, the water was frigid and not pleasant to wade through. We walked through the “shallow” side, which was almost knee deep in some spots. At least I didn’t fall in this one.

After the creek, we hit some muddy trail that became significantly muddier as we climbed up towards the little ridge area. The mud was very slick and was similar to trying to run in peanut butter. I was glad when we got through this section and found that other parts of the course were drier.

We started to hit some more hills through here and I tried to push myself and limit my walk breaks. I really enjoyed that Kim and I ended up sticking together. Sometimes it’s easier to push yourself when someone is right there doing it with you.

The temperature dropped steadily throughout the race, but I didn’t notice it getting colder as long as we were out of the wind. The sun even came out at one point and melted a lot of the snow that was previously covering the ground. Kind of funny how we started the race in winter, but it looked more like spring by the finish. It definitely still felt like winter, though!

As we made our way through miles 3, 4, and 5 we hit the parts of the course that have lots of twists and turns. I always describe the trails in this race as being akin to one of those “crazy mouse” roller coasters. It’s fun to see people all over the place, but have no clue if they’re in front of you or behind you.

We hit a surprise creek crossing somewhere on our way through miles 6 and 7. And then around mile 7 we retraced the muddiest part of the course. Once again we were slipping and sliding and doing our best to stay upright. It was really windy through here, too, and my face felt like it was frozen.

I was glad to get down to the bottom part where it was still muddy but not as slick. We crossed back through the creek and then made our way over to the finish line, finishing in 1:54 and change. I was happy to finish in under 2 hours!

Afterward, we enjoyed some delicious post-race food. I had peppers and hummus, some infamous Mountain Junkies pumpkin bread, and a couple of Dru’s lemon cookies. I also tried some granola, which I’ve always skipped in the past. It was so good! I’ve been missing out.

After that we headed back to the car and prepared to head home. It felt so good to get some dry socks and shoes on. The next race up is the Mill Mountain Mayhem 10K – a race that has been voted both the most loved and the most hated race of the RNUTS series. Is it too much to ask for the temperature to be above freezing!?