Good Weekend Fun

Started off Saturday by cooking up some banana bread and cupcakes. I was feeling a bit lazy in terms of running but there was still things to be done, so couldn't just sit around and relax ;) So Danielle! Later in the morning after things were all out of the oven, I headed out for a run. I couldn't quite decide what shoes to wear or where to go or what I'd find, so I finally settled on the screwshoes in the hopes that I might get in some miles off-pavement. I was excited to find that the snowmobile roller had been out overnight on the trails, as had a few fat tire bikers, so the snow was just enough compacted to run on. Still soft in spots but doable! Hurray. I wouldn't have to run pavement after all! I headed out onto the powerlines to run the Lover's Lane loop. The backside of the loop is no longer accessible to snowmobilers due to a rotted out bridge, but there had snowshoe and ski traffic at least. It was nice to be out in the woods amongst the snow-covered trees for the morning. Always so pretty! (6.7 miles)

Later in the afternoon, we headed up to Keri and Tyler's for the night. Sam had fun playing with the girls and we always have a good time hanging out with them. Such fun. Pizza and laughter and a few drinks and then it was off to bed so we could get up early for the traditional Bad Idea Fat Ass over at Hidden Valley. I woke to a beautiful sunrise rising through the trees, and we all quickly ate and gathered gear and grumbled over the fact that it was daylight savings and was there more coffee? ;)

Then it was off to see what we were in for with the course ;) Keri and her two friends had skiied the course on Saturday and the trails had been groomed, with only a few spots of untracked singletrack. This meant things were pretty soft and not well packed, so the group of us donned our snowshoes and took off into the woods a little after 9:00 am. I laughed to myself when I realized that this was the first time I had worn snowshoes all season ;) Ha! It was slow going and in the soft snow, hard work. I ended up alone, a little behind the lead pack, on the first lap and same on the second. By the time I came in at the end of the second lap, Ryan was headed out, but with microspikes on. Emily was doing the same and asked if I wanted company. I happily took off my snowshoes and exchanged them for spikes, and we set off together. The sun was coming out and the day was warming up, and it was so much nicer without the snowshoes on my feet! Things were still a bit soft in spots but really, the spikes were a good choice and made the running easier and smoother. We had a fun few miles chatting and running together, and then I let Emily head off on loop #4 while I did a few short little loops closer to the barn to get my mileage to a nice round number :) Happy to finish up the week with a good run and get in 48+ miles. Definitely tired out there on the snowshoes but felt solid, so really pleased with that. (9.0 miles)

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking with friends, eating, watching the girls sled and snowshoe and color together, and just in general having a good time. Ryan ended up being the last one out on the course and getting 20+ miles. Woohoo! A very successful, fun, good tired kind of weekend!!