Cathance and Sledding

Our final "stay at home" day ended up being a pretty busy one, but it sure was nice to be at home. Sam slept in until around 7:45am, which was great, and once Ryan was up, I suited up and headed out for my run. I have been in a bit of a rut, although much of it self-imposed, with my running lately, and I really wanted to get in a solid double digit run. Of course, I was shooting for 10, so nothing crazy :-) I decided I would run out in the Cathance, hopeful that others had been out the past few days to tromp down the snow we received on Thursday, and thinking that with the extra coating of snow the surface wouldn't be so slick. The powerlines still weren't great - one or two sleds had been out so the surface was a bit churned up and definitely tackier than it has been, but the sleds hadn't been enough to break through all the ankle-busters beneath so I still had to tread fairly cautiously. But the singletrack trails were in good shape. The running out there was the best it has been in weeks, and some of the ice had come off the trees too, meaning there weren't quite as many trees to duck under and around. The snow had stuck to the trees, making it look like a winter wonderland, temps were mild and the woods were quiet. I had a lovely time out tramping around on the trails, and got in a good 10 miles. A great way to start the morning and to reinvigorate my running!

Cool ice along the river

Neat ice flows

Later in the afternoon, Sam's friend Anne came over for some playtime and we went outside to sled on the hill out back. A few of the neighborhood kids were out enjoying the snow too. The top coating of snow was nice and tacky, but underneath it was still all that lovely abrasive ice. Still, the girls did great and had a lot of fun.

Whee!

Getting a ride to the hill

Love the expression :-)

Sam takes a ride with Phil - I think he's much more apprehensive than she is :-)

Of course, as is inevitable, Sam took a spill from the sled on the second-to-last run. She cut her face up (very superficial) and has a good bit of road rash, but after a bit of crying, she got up and took one last fun run. In fact, she said, "Give me a big push, Daddy, so I can go fast!" That's my girl!

Sledding 'road' rash