Finally Winter?

Ryan has been gone all week for a conference and then for a client visit out west, so it was just Sam and I. I am more than capable of holding down the fort here on my own and Sam is a great kid so it isn't like it is any trouble - although three late nights of swim practice is admittedly tough on me 😂😴 - but we missed having Ryan around 💗He, of course, was loving all the CA and CO snow and enjoyed a fair amount of skiing, and admittedly I was a bit jealous of those beautiful mountains he has been surrounded by!! Doesn't Tahoe just look amazing?!

Meanwhile, we did get a bit of a dose of winter here this week. Monday was a holiday for Sam and I, and I could hear the sleet hitting the skylights when I woke up. Lovely. Had a few quiet hours on the couch before finally gearing up to head out for a run around 8:00 am. There was a solid coating of snow and icy stuff on the ground but the screwshoes provided more than enough traction, although it certainly wasn't a quick run between conditions and the strong winds. Ran around Highland Green and added on a loop along the river, which was pretty with the roaring water. It wasn’t doing anything when I first headed out, but the freezing rain picked back up a few miles from home - nothing like wind driven ice pellets to the face. Ouch!😂 (7.0 miles)

Later in the afternoon, Sam and I made pretzels, which is always a fun (and yummy) project! 😋🥨

Then a quiet evening at home with no swim practice,  as the Y was closed due to the weather. Tuesday was a regular day at work followed by a doctor's appointment, and then home to cook up dinner and get Sam to the Y for late swim practice. I took to the track while she swam, just for a bit of movement. (2.2 miles walked)

Wednesday, I headed out at 3:00 pm for another Highland Green run, adding on a loop down to the river. Very balmy afternoon. Roads were just wet, but the back dirt road is being torn up by all the construction vehicles and was muddy and slushy. The trail down to the river was slushy but with my trail shoes and for such a short stretch, it was fine. Can't resist a run along the river, looks the same but different every day 💗(7.0 miles)

And then another walk on the track in the evening during Sam's swim practice. (2.1 miles walked)

Thursday was a rest day from running and walking, with work, swim and grocery shopping keep us busy, and then we got the call late in the evening that due to the incoming storm, Friday would be a snow day. Sam was certainly happy with that! ❄❄

And so it was that Friday started on a quiet note, with some time spent sitting on the couch reading, some time on the computer getting things done, a bit of laundry and cleaning, and then finally after lunch, heading out for a run. I’d say we got about 6” of snow, and it was above freezing so with the ground reasonbly warm beneath and where things had been shoveled and plowed well, it was down to just wet pavement. Elsewhere things were a mix of slush and packed snow. Yet another loop around Highland Green with an add-on down to the river. A few tracks but slow going with the new snow. Still, so pretty in the woods with all the snow! The back dirt road was a mix of plowed, untracked and tracked by a big truck. Screwshoes were perfect. (7.0 miles)

The Y was closed again for the day, and honestly, it was nice to only have to handle swimming for 3 of the 5 days this week and I know Sam always welcomes a day off. The girl would just melt into her bed all day every day if she had the chance - ah, the life of a teenager 😂😂 The snow had tapered off in the late afternoon, so Mom and Dad came over for dinner. We hadn't seen them all week, so it was nice to have a bit of time to catch up! 

Sam had an away swim meet on Saturday, with drop-off for the bus at 9:45. Not knowing exactly how things were going to look in the morning, I decided I'd run after dropping her off, so had another quiet morning and then went down to the farmer's market for a quick trip before getting Sam up to the Y. Which meant I didn't head out for my run until around 10:30 am, but at least by then the sun was out and temps were warming up a bit. I had originally intended to just stick to the roads, but I couldn't resist heading over to the Gone Fishing trails to check them out, as I had seen on Facebook that they had been groomed on Friday evening. Sidewalks were definitely not ideal, with a few slips along the way even in my trail shoes, and the trails, while groomed and ridden by at least a few bikes, were still fairly soft and sloppy from my point of view in my spikes. Things definitely need to set and firm up a bit more to be ideal for running. Still, very beautiful out in the woods with the snow still stuck to the trees and nice to have things looking good and wintery! Not quite the 15 miles I was originally planning but certainly seemed like enough. (12.0 miles)

Sam had a good meet, swimming a hard combination of events, and was pretty wiped by the time I picked her up at the Y around 5:00. These away meets are long days, for sure. We got thai take-out for dinner and went to bed early.

I was volunteering at the TMR "not snowshoe" race at Brad in the morning, and decided that instead of trying to cram my run in before heading over I'd just plan to run in the afternoon. Who am I?!? 😂😂 This week sure has turned into a lot of afternoon runs! It was a reasonably small field so registration duty was fairly chill and there was some time to chat with friends before the race started. I took off shortly after the runners did their first short 1-mile loop around Knight's Wood Trail and got home just about the same time as Sam, whom Mom and Dad had taken up to Mae's for brunch - yum!! Lucky kid! After a bit of lunch and some cookie bar baking and beet roasting, I headed out for my run a little before 2:00 pm. Skies were whitening up in advance of another snowstorm coming in later tonight, but it was relatively calm out and comfortable with temps in the high 20s. Out into Highland Green again, and grateful for dry pavement without much ice to contend with. A good way to wrap up the running week, and felt fairly decent. (7.0 miles)