I Just Screwed My Shoes

Assuming I wake up on time tomorrow morning and don't have car trouble, I'll have already done better than last year. The continuous freeze for the past month has made me a bit hesitant, but today I finally decided to register for the "Run, Toto, Run" trail run at Wyandotte County Lake tomorrow. I took the dogs out there on Monday to check out the trail conditions and found that much of it was snowy and parts treacherously icy, but overall thought it was doable. I asked what the race organizer thought about the conditions as I registered, and he said it got worse during the week. It warmed up for a day or two and melted things a bit, but has been below freezing ever since and all of that melt turned back into slick ice. He really recommended buying either Yaktrax or driving screws into the soles of my shoes. As the cheaper option, I went with screwing my shoes. I'm hoping it works.

Course Description:
The course consists of rocky, rooty, and hilly bridle trails & single-track trails. It's a Loop course, and you will be in the woods, for the most part. The length of each loop is a wheel-measured 10.35 miles; you do the math; 3 loops is 50 kilometers long. [I'm doing the 1 loop option.] The course's trails can be challenging due to rocks & roots and the sometimes muddy conditions, and the constant barrage of rolling hills. But remember: This is Kansas, so how tough could it really be??? Actually, only 22% is flat, and the rest of the time you are either going up or downhill, and some of those hills are very steep. There is also a 1/3-mile section of paved road that you will run on at about mile 5 of each loop. But, in keeping with the theme of the race, you will be going uphill on the pavement.