What an interesting and eventful run. First and foremost, if I had been thinking, I would have worn my shoes with carbide spikes (my beloved Icebugs). But it was early and, no, I was not thinking.

I run from my house to the trailhead, a distance of about 1.2 miles. About halfway to the TH, a very, very cute short-tailed weasel ran across the road in front of me. He had some sort of prey in his mouth. OMG, he was so incredibly cute! All white with a black-tipped tail. My run was off to a good start!

But then, I hit the trail. It's beautiful today, but we had rain over the snow yesterday, so the trail surface was intermittently breakable crust and ice skating rink. I was wishing I had my Icebugs on. I thought about turning around and running on the road, but I convinced myself that it just _had_ to get better.

It didn't. And got worse in some places. But I committed to it so I kept going. I saw bobcat tracks, weasel tracks, coyote tracks, raccoon tracks, deer tracks, and elk tracks. I came around a corner and there, in the sun on a tree, was a huge flock of goldfinches. I saw one other crazy runner out and when we passed each other we both giggled. I'm sure we were both thinking the same thing: "My gawd this trail SUCKS today but it is such a pretty morning!" It was slow going but, ultimately, totally worth it.

After about an hour and a half of slipping and sliding, my hamstrings had had enough. I was at a point where I could hit the road for the rest of the run so I did, running up the canyon alongside the creek. I eventually turned around and headed back down. About 1/2 mile from the end of the creek road (which does not have traffic on it except for maintenance vehicles), I see a plow/salt truck coming up the road. I got over to the side to give him plenty of room and gave him a peace sign. As he passed, I got hit with a bunch of salt and rock (he had the salt thrower on). Good thing I had sunglasses on. I could have been mad, but wasn't. It was just too nice of a day.

About 14.5 miles and 2,282' of climbing and some pretty pissed off hamstrings but I can think of worse things Happy Friday, everyone.