I stole this pic from the web, so that's not us. The weather was a bit more dramatic, and we were the idiots with shorts and sneakers on. But this is pretty much the view of the day - white!
Another early ass morning without much sleep. I did actually fall asleep early, but the baby woke me up about 2 minutes later. I swear, for every minute she wakes up - I'm up for an hour. I can't wait until my kids are teenagers. When my kids are older I plan on paying them back. I'll be plugging in my guitar and amp at 4:00 am and rocking out some old punk tunes to get even with the kids. I can't wait. It's going to be fun. Until then, I just try to keep moving all day long and ignore my zombified state. I was meeting Bill and Justin at 6am for a run. We were hoping to run 12 peaks or summits or whateveritscalled, but there were reports of a lot of snow up top. We wouldn't really know until we get to the top though.
I rolled in to the parking lot at about 5:57, Bill and Justin showed up about 2 minutes later. And after about 5 minutes of final adjustments we were off. It was still pretty dark as we made our way to the single-track. And then we start climbing. I was feeling like crap, but we were going uphill so I didn't notice how bad I felt (if that makes sense). Just because even if I feel good I still feel like crap on long climbs, it just gets over with quicker on better days. We climbed for a while and holy crap! Snow! I'm originally from Buffalo, NY and once ran 15 miles in -40 wind-chill, so this shouldn't be such a surprise. But it was. Maybe because I ran here a couple weeks and there was no sign of snow; in fact trail conditions were pretty good.
When we got to the clearing at the top the snow was at least 12" deep, and the wind was howling. We quickly got back into the single track and moved onto summit # 2. This climb is on a fire road and not as much fun. Luckily for me I was the slowest runner so I could go in the footsteps of Bill and Justin in front of me. Again at the top the wind was blowing fiercely - on we go to the single track. The 3rd summit is a bitch of a climb. The first time I did it a couple weeks before it completely humbled me. I kept my usual slow pace behind Bill and Justin. I was losing 20 seconds or more per climb to them, and they were having a conversation all the way up. This time up was not as bad though, and I was starting to feel better. I really need to start running this type of terrain more. After the 3rd summit it was decided to get out of the snow and head back down. It was fun running in the snow, the pillowy white stuff is great on my knees, but it also hides the rock and root hazards. We then worked our way down to the TMT trail, stopped at the spring so they could fill their bottles, and continued our run. Overall it was a great day to be outside. I really appreciate those guys putting up with me as I know they are both quite a bit faster. But I can feel my fitness improving on this terrain each time I run it. And I need to remember to tape the straps on my water bottles - they kept popping out and then I have to fiddle with them for a bit. I lost tons of time running just from messing with my bottles, what a stupid way to lose it.
We ended up running just short of 4 hours. I ended up feeling much better toward then end of the run. And Sunday I wasn't even sore at all, so that's a positive in the right direction. The first time I ran here I was hobbled for a few days afterwards. Progress. I love trails.
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