Ice Ice Baby

Sometimes I question my choices 😂  but the run got done! 😃

I made a quick trip to the grocery store right when they opened at 7:00 am to pick up a few items needed for tomorrow, and thankfully it was easy peasy. This also gave me a chance to check out the roads, which are, as suspected, very messy... Ah well... Then after getting the beds ready and doing a quick clean of the house in preparation for Irene and Dana's arrival today instead of tomorrow due to the storm, I headed out around 9:00 am. Temps were hovering around 30 degrees so it was fairly pleasant but conditions were, well, variable. The high school road was a thick sheet of ice that my screwshoes barely gripped into; the powerlines were crunchy, icy unevenness; Highland Green Road was fine but messy, slushy and wet; and the back dirt road had a thin ribbon of icy tire tracks to run in.

Icy brush along the powerlines

Winterberries encased in ice

My plan was to run loops of the road but when I got halfway around the loop I couldn't resist checking out the trail down to the river. There had been a fair amount of snowshoe traffic before yesterday's storm and things were at least mostly packed with a bit of snow and ice on top so I decided I'd rather run the trails for a bit, even if a bit more work, before returning to the road. Some stretches were decent and others were not, but it sure was beautiful out in the woods!

Pancake ice!

Snowy river

Meandering trail

The trail conditions made today's miles feel like a whole lot more than 10 but I'm glad to have gotten them in regardless! (10.1 miles)

Now it's time to do a bit of cooking and relax with everyone for the rest of the day!

Snow and Ice

The snow turned to a freezing misty rain this morning and has since progressed to straight up rain, which has covered everything in a nice frozen layer. I got out around 7:30 am when things were just starting up in the freezing rain department and enjoyed a mixed bag of conditions ranging from soft and sugary untracked snow on the powerlines, messy, sloppy, icy edge of road running on Highland Green and Canam, and some sweet screwshoe running on the back dirt road which had a set of truck tracks with about an 1" of fresh snow on top. Lots of critter tracks to enjoy along the way, and came back coated in a thin layer of ice!

The rest of the day was spent inside making sauce for our Christmas Day lasagna, doing mundane tasks like laundry and getting the wrapping all wrapped up ;) Gigi was helping again 😂😂😂 and was most displeased when I tried to remove her from the box of gift bags and ribbons. 

While we did that, Sam spent the afternoon over at Anne's house and then we all met up for dinner at Sea Dog. The roads were fine although the sidewalks were mighty sketchy, and it was fun to catch up and not to have to cook! :)

Looks like my long run is going to be loops of Highland Green Road tomorrow morning... but it's quiet over there and fairly safe, so that wins out!

Craziness

Work is always extra busy at this time of year. There is a lot of running around making sure all of our clients get Christmas gifts, there are year-end donations coming in to record and piles of thank you notes to address and mail, people and organizations come in here there and everywhere, gracing us with donations, we had our staff party on Wednesday and an evening service in remembrance of the homeless in our community on Thursday night... it is all good stuff but phew! By the time I got home after the service on Thursday night, I was exhausted, and extra thankful that Thursday is the end of my work week and the start of an extra long weekend this week due to Christmas!

I have also been feeling a little low on running motivation this week and I think the former and the latter are probably at least partially connected... in any event, I took Monday as a planned day off but then on Tuesday I just could not get up and out the door. After Monday's snow, I knew things would messy on the roads and I am just not quite ready for snowshoeing yet ;) So, I tortured myself on the indoor track in the late afternoon during swim practice. 13 laps to a mile. Gah. Got in 52 laps for 4 miles. I couldn't do this all the time but with a podcast going it wasn't horrible and it is at least a viable option if a run is needed.

Wednesday was another morning of sleeping in even though I had intended to run. Thursday I did manage to get up and out. There are only so many zero days one can take if the miles are going to get run! It was cold, dark and windy. I wore my screwshoes and went up and over Mt. A. in the partially tracked snow to Highland Green to run the road loop and then retraced my steps and finished up the run with a little extra road running near the high school. (6.1 miles). I decided I needed to wear the cool socks my mom had gotten me for Christmas so that I could power through the rest of the day ;)

#girlpower

Today I was lucky enough to have the chance to meet up with Val and Keri over at Bradbury for a run in the woods! It was good to catch up, and we got in some nice miles on the singletrack that had been oh so nicely packed by the fat bikers. Delightful! (5.3 miles)

While a portion of our reason for getting together was of course to run, it might have been even more important that we got over to Edna & Lucy's for our last lunch there ever, as they are closing their doors after 9 years :( So sad. We will miss them so. Such a great place for food and conversation and gathering, and so many good memories!

Happy runners

Sweet packed singletrack

I had gone to Target and the grocery store before our run, which while wise was also a bit crazy as there were an insane amount of people out shopping at 7:30 am on a Friday morning! I guess the combo of the holidays and the snow falling as I write is the reason. I thought I might not get to the park in time, it was so busy!

After lunch, I headed home to do a quick house clean and then tackle the wrapping of Sam's presents. Gigi thought I needed some help ;) Tomorrow we'll wrap up the wrapping for the rest of the family and enjoy a quiet day indoors, as it sounds like it is going to be quite nasty out there! I'm still planning to sneak out for a run, but I'm guessing it's going to be a messy one indeed!

What?! I'm helping ;)

Sunday Fun

Sunday was our first Christmas celebration. We had a lot of fun opening presents, followed up with pancakes and bacon, and later Sam and my parents headed up to Boothbay for the Gardens Aglow show at the Botanical Gardens while Ryan and I got out for a late afternoon run down to the river and back. We all convened back at the house for take-out pizza and football watching. All in all, a very lovely Sunday and a great way to kick off the Christmas season! We are so glad that my parents were able to come up for a visit and celebrate with us! 💗

 Present opening fun:

 Sam, Neenie and Pip had a great time up at Gardens Aglow. So beautiful!:

And Ryan and I got in a nice run down to the river. The trails had packed down pretty nicely and the late afternoon light was really pretty, although brrr, it sure got cold quickly once the sun went down behind the trees! Happy to finish off the week with 30+ miles and feel good. (5.4 miles)

Saturday Festivities

My parents are in town to celebrate Christmas with us, as they will be headed out to Seattle to spend Christmas with Kristen, Morgan and Rob. So yesterday was our first Christmas eve ;)

I kicked off the day with a run out in the Cathance, this time alone and with another 10 degrees showing on the thermometer. It's amazing how "warm" 13 degrees felt compared to the low single digits from Friday! I couldn't resist running along the river again, and I so love how I can run these trails and see something new every day 💗  This time it was turkey tracks headed up to the field from the river and pancake ice in one small spot! Lucky me :) (7.0 miles)

Snowy Heath

Sunlight through the trees

Icy reflections

River mist

Pancake ice!

The day continued with a swim meet for Sam. Didn't get much for photos but it was fun to watch her swim and just be herself with her friends out on the pool deck. She truly loves it. 

Anchoring the freestyle relay. She started behind and didn't catch the other girl, but did make up a fair amount of time over the length of the pool.

Happy swimmer kid

Individual freestyle. She has really improved her stroke and breathing and took several seconds of her best time in this one!

The late afternoon was spent relaxing and decorating gingerbread cookies before a delicious dinner of Indian food and gingerbread cake, our "traditional" Christmas eve fare ;) What fun!

Gingerbread decorating is serious business!

Being goofy

Contemplation

Happy kid

Everyone had a very different decorating style

Sam and her finished "S" gingerbread lady

The cookies

Happy

Yay cookies!

Week Day Snowy Cathance Running

Tuesday morning's run was a dark, snow in the face, kind of run. The snow had just started as I headed out the door. One of the power company trucks had been up to the top of Mt. A. the day before to check on the tower so there was a nice, packed, if slightly icy, track to the top. Then from the top over to the back road was the track from one snowmobile which connected to the groomed trail running down the backside. Not sure why the crazy grooming guy was out grooming 3" of snow after Saturday's storm but hey, I'll take it! Interestingly, there was one set of truck tracks on hole #3 following the cart path too, so I had a fairly packed route all the way to the Heath. And as there often is, there had been traffic on the trails, so all told, fairly decent early season conditions and plenty enough traction with just my screwshoes. Looped my way around in the dark and then tacked on another road mile by the high school to finish up the run. (5.1 miles)

Snow continued to fall throughout the day, accumulating a few inches, before turning to rain which then froze into a solid sheet of ice over everything overnight. Wednesday morning's run down to the river was a very crispy, noisy one, with lots of ice covered trees bowed down across the trail to make things a bit more interesting. It was slow going but the crescent moon above was shining brightly, and along the powerlines on the return trip, the red winterberries were encased in ice and oh so beautiful! (5.5 miles)

Along the river in the pitch dark

The ice-encased berries looked so pretty but were hard to photograph in the semi-darkness!

Thursday was a rest day. I do so love coming downstairs and sipping coffee in the darkness next to the lit Christmas tree :)

Quiet morning

Yesterday, Ryan and I both had the day off so we planned a morning run together for getting to the movie theatre to see the new Star Wars movie. Of course, temperatures were hovering around zero degrees so it took about 2 miles for my hands to warm up and three miles for my toes to warm up - brrrr! But it was gorgeous out along the river and with the sun shining through the ice-covered trees. Conditions were variable to say the least and it was slow going but it was fun to get out in the daylight and run with Ryan! (8.0 miles)

Roaring river

Pretty winter waters

Icy

Happy runners :)

Sunlit, snow covered trails

Lots of ice build-up already!

A few ice pancakes frozen into the ice

Following Ryan along the Ravine Trail

Blue skies and snow covered trees

Shimmering light

After an early lunch, we spent several hours in the theatre watching the movie - oh boy, was it good! - and then stopped to do a quick grocery shopping trip on the way home. It was nice to spend a Friday just having fun and not crossing things off my to do list!!

Sam's school was having a movie night last night, so I dropped she and Anne off and then since Mom and Dad are in town for an early Christmas celebration this weekend, the four of us went off to El Camino for dinner. What fun and oh so delish! What a great way to finish up the week!

While the kiddo is at movie night, the adults will play!