Fluff

Last night, before I went to bed, I looked out the window. A few flakes were falling from the sky but seemed to disappear before they even hit the ground. "Fake snow," I called it. Well, this morning, when Sam and I came downstairs a little after 6am, the air was clear but there was a lot of snow out there! I guess the snow decided overnight that it had better turn into the real stuff after all! We ended up with about 8" of nice, fluffy, light snow. So, after I dropped Sam off at daycare, I set off across the street, snowshoes in hand, to go have a little fun! After the .3 to the edge of the snowmobile trail, I put on my shoes and headed out. The snow looked so innocent. Fresh and new, clinging to the evergreens and sparkling in the sun. But man, breaking trail through all that fresh stuff was hard work, let me tell you!

I huffed and puffed, slowly, slowly making my way up the Mt. Ararat road. I figured I would start "grooming" the snowshoe loop that Ryan had made last year. I ran the downhill stretch through the woods first. I was kicking up snow like crazy. The evergreens were bent over the trail. It was like a winter wonderland! Beautiful but tough. Then I had to make my way up the back hill. Oy! I walked. Then I turned around and ran down what I had just walked up. That was better! By the third time around, the going was a bit easier. And by the fourth time, I could run the whole way. But it was humbling. There was no "fast." Snowshoe running is hard work!

I had heard a snowmobile off in the distance as I was looping around earlier, and when I got back to the Mt. Ararat road, I was happy to find that he had been zooming around the Mt. Ararat area, and I was able to use his tracks to get back to the high school road. Much easier going, for sure! I ended up with 3.25 miles run in 43:41, about 2.6 of which was on snowshoes. But no matter the distance, I got in my workout for the day!

The Squall is going to be a humbling experience, I have a feeling... But it should be fun!