snowpacolypse

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    snow days! woo hoo!! finally! the whole country's been getting it now we're finally getting ours!
  after my espresso and some "super green" juice (kale, apple, lemon, ginger, E3 live, macca powder and spirulina) i headed out into what is basically right now a ghost town. an awesome ghost town. the 2+ miles it took to get to the park had me seeing more people on cross-country skis, bikes, running and walking than in cars. the way it should ALWAYS be. ironically, the biggest part of the cars i saw were the ones at the trail head with people getting out to go enjoy the snow.
  by the time i got here, i was already feeling it. the snow made for an uneven surface so between that and already adjusting my stride due to my pulled calf, it was a bit of a struggle. nothing to bad just not as carefree as one would like.
  there was a group of cyclists on cross bikes. not sure how far they went but i watched them heading out and the whole thing looked pretty shakey. can't imagine it being too much fun. everyone seemed to be stopping a lot to deal with their derailires. snow can do that. LOTS of people on cross-country skis. and of course i even heard one couple bitching about everyone messing up their "tracks." XC skiing looks like it would be fun but this whole idea of your precious snow/ tracks getting "disturbed" and ruining the experience doesn't really bring me in. it must be a big thing because i hear this complaint all the time. lots of runners to. most of them seemed to be doing the same run/walk approach as i was. running in the untouched powdery snow was like running in fluffy, cold sand. not cool. running in the churned up stuff was just a pain in the ass. no rhythm.
  after about a mile into the woods i turned up into the singletrack for some climbing and maybe some actual running. or at least some really cool hiking. i wasn't sure if the snow would be deep enough to smooth out the roots, rocks, etc. that it was covering but turns out it did and i could finally get in some actual running.
  i've been dealing with this pulled calf all week. no running. just walking back and forth to work everyday. it's about 2.5 miles each way so it's a fair workout. a little bit of stretching and a lot of green veggies to promote the healing. with the first race of the year coming up next week, the hagg lake 25k trail run, i've been stressing a little bit but finally accepted that there won't be a PR this time around. i'm more excited for my friend who i've been coaching. it's their first big race and i know how this one can really get you "there." even though it's not too hilly and the technical areas are broken up by long spaces of non-technical, it still seems to really take folks to the edge. i guess because it's the first race of the year and maybe everyone is nervous and pushing a little harder. anyway, my excitement is for my friend and the finish line meal at the end. ultras and trail runs always have the best finish line food. this one specifically. anyway....even though i'm stressing the calf injury, i had to go out and play in the snow. we see it so rarely here unless we head to the mountain and now that i live so close to the park, i had to get out there.
  the last few years, every time it snows somewhere there seems to be such a wave of disgust, disbelief, i don't fucking know, of people who can't understand why a city would essentially "shut down." with this years "polar vortex" it's been no different. personally, i don't see what the big deal is. very few of us really have anywhere we really "need" to be. certainly not most of the people i know. if your life is so fragile that a couple random days out of the loop will break you then maybe you need to take a closer look at the rest of your year. what do we really "need" anyway? utility services, emergency rooms, fire departments, and a handful of other resources. we could probably do without the cops but it's probably best the be kept busy anyway. whatever. the snow got me an early weekend, fridge is stocked and endless crap on TV. at the very least. most of us could use a few more snow days.


 
     

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