Wintery ❄❄

There sure was a lot of snow this past week! I guess winter is not done with us yet ❄❄ 

Monday was a walk on the indoor track during swim practice. I would rather be outside but I didn't want to deal with the inevitably crappy sidewalks, so I chose loops instead. 😜 (2.2 miles walked)

A light snow started falling early in the morning hours on Tuesday. A snow day was called and I wrote in to say I would be working at home. No need to be driving out on the roads if you don't have to! But I figured I could get a run in before too much snow fell so until it was light out and headed out at 7:00 am. Screwshoes did the trick although in a few spots I would have been glad to have on my spikes. There was a fair amount of nice, tacky, fluffy snow out there! Looped around Highland Green and down into Topsham Crossing. (8.0 miles)

Snow fell lightly but steadily all day, and we ended up getting about 6". Worked from home on Wednesday but wanted to wait for the roads to clear up, so didn't end up getting out until 3:00 for my run. By then roads and sidewalks were 99% clear, which was nice. Legs felt sluggish but it was a nice, reasonably warm and calm afternoon to be out for more Highland Green miles. (8.0 miles)

More weather on Thursday, which started as a cold rain, changed to snow and then went back to a cold misty rain. Yuck. As we are headed up to Great Glen for the weekend, I wanted to get in some running miles so I headed out at 3:00 across the street into Highland Green. Ugh. It was not nice out. Did the bare minimum and called it good. (6.0 miles)

Then it was on to packing! Gigi thought she should come with us 😹

Friday, I headed over to Pennelville for a run. Legs were definitely not having it, and that combined with the fact that the sides of the roads were slick with a thin veneer of ice after yesterday's rain meant that it was not the fastest nor the most enjoyable run, but as always, the views were lovely. (8.0 miles)

Then it was off to get the regular Friday errands done and get ready for the afternoon drive over to Great Glen! We were psyched to realize that our xc skiing weekend was looking like it was going to coincide with a big dump of snow, and we were not disappointed. Ryan had already been over in NH for a meeting earlier in the day so Sam and I drove over after school. Reasonably easy drive with some lovely mountain views as we got closer to the notch and to the hotel. 

Once we got our things inside, we headed out into the main lobby bar area to enjoy a drink and some appetizers, as we were having a late dinner in the restaurant with Howie and Sue. So good to see them and get to hear about some of their adventures! 

Snow started sometime overnight, and when I wandered out into the lobby for some early morning coffee, snow was already piling up outside. 

Then after a big breakfast, we suited up and headed out for a ski! So much fluffy snow, it was like a winter wonderland! We enjoyed the beautiful woods, the snow piling up on the trees and falling quietly as we skiied along. Sam was testing out some "new" longer skis and was doing a great job but we realized that as she was slipping even in these new snow conditions that the skis were a bit too long, so we started to loop back to the touring center to get a shorter pair. And then I realized that the upper on one of my 20 year old bumblebee boot was entirely separating from the hard plastic lower component of the boot. Aie! Thankfully it held up until we got back to the touring center, and small feet for the win, as I was able to find some good boots in the 50% off section to replace them! (3.25 miles xc skiied)

Happy skiers!

So.much.snow!

We ran into Nate out grooming and enjoyed the fresh tracks on the way back in

So lovely!

After exchanging the skis and picking up new boots for me, we headed back to the room for something to eat before going back out for an afternoon ski. Even more snow this time around! Crazy fluffy stuff and so pretty. Sam did great on the newer shorter skis and we had a fun tour up to the cabin and back. (3.1 miles xc skiied)

Happy snow-covered skiers!

At the cabin

Then it was back to the hotel to shower up and relax a bit before heading out to the bar for some drinks and a big pile of fries before a yummy diner. 

Awoke to clearing skies and a morning coffee with a view 😊 before we packed up, cleared off the cars and headed down to Jackson for a ski along the Ellis.

Beautiful blue skies, decent temps, no wind, and a lovely meander through the woods on some wonderfully groomed classic tracks. What more could you ask for?! Made for a really nice morning 😍😎 There may have been a bit of whining on Sam's part on the way out, but once we finished up, she said, without prompting even (!), that it had been a lot of fun. (4.8 miles xc skiied)

So pretty!

That classic Jackson view!

All in all, a really fun weekend winter getaway and so nice to get to enjoy the snow on our xc skis together! 💗

I could have run up at Great Glen on the treadmill but honestly my heart was not in it and there was no real need. Feeling reasonably decent about where I am at this time of winter with my running. Nothing spectacular, but I've remained in what I consider to be my sweet spot in terms of mileage with all weeks since the first full week of December being between 37-43 miles (40.4, 37.7, 40, 41.8, 40.3, 38.5, 40.1, 41.4, 42.4, 39, 43.4, 40.1), with this past week being the exception and a reasonably dig dip with only 30 miles run. I'll get back to it after these past few days off from running and I'm hopeful that this base will allow me to ramp up a bit more easily once the snow melts later in the spring and do some higher volume this year in terms of long runs leading up to Rim to River.

Here's the February wrap-up:

167.0 miles run
20.06 miles walked
2.16 miles xc skied
6 full zero days

YTD:

341.6 miles run

38.95 miles walked

6.9 miles xc skied

12 full zero days