Running in the snow

Yesterday I had a 7 mile comfortable run on my schedule. Friday night we got 4 inches of snow, which in NC means everything shuts down. So my 25 mile bike on the roads turned into 75 minutes on the bike trainer, and after 45 minutes on the bike trainer on Friday, that did not make my butt happy at all. But enough of that and on to the fun stuff.
I was a little nervous about the run, I had dug out my cross country shoes with the spikes in them but still I thought the 18 degrees would make for some very slippery roads. The plan was to warm-up inside on the treadmill for 2 miles, then head out onto the frozen tundra of a neighborhood for a 5k loop then do the last 2 on the mill. Since I really don't like the treadmill I was thinking this would be a good way to get in my miles and not go crazy. I can handle 40 minutes on the treadmill and if you break it into 2 sessions all the better.
The first 20 on the mill went by fairly quick, I had broken out into a sweat so I changed into a dry shirt and then started to layer up for the cold. 2 pairs of socks, tights and wind-blocking run pants, a long sleeve run shirt, my heavy ass nike fleece with the hood, ear warmers, and my thick gloves. By the time I was done I must have weighed a good 10 lbs more. Luckily the xc shoes were are really light and probably the pair weighs less than 1 of my normal shoes.
I head out the door really warm from the run and getting dressed, I think, hey it's not that bad. A thin layer of snow had fallen last night and was covering the ice so my shoes were gripping really well. I started off at a nice easy conservative pace and was feeling awesome. Before I knew it I felt like I was running really fast. When I hit the long ass hill I went right up, no problem. I got to the 1/2 mile to go mark at 23 minutes, I usually do this route in 30 and it looked like I was on pace for a 27 something, I was going fast, but it felt so good. I instantly made the decision to stay out for 2 more miles so I wouldn't have to get back on the treadmill when I got home. Ran out to the main road to see how it was fairing with the weather and ran over to my buddy Erin's neighborhood. Cruised by her house and waved hello, no one was up, but I waved anyway :-). Then headed home. It was 9am and I only saw 2 cars, and 1 guy walking his dog for the whole 5 miles. It was really peaceful, the smell of wood burning in fireplaces was a around and everything was a clean white. Finished off the 5 miles in 46 minutes and was on such a high I ran into the house and dragged the girls out of bed to do some sledding.
Perfect way to end the recovery week! need more snow days :-)