Miwok Madness!!

Another great weekend in the Rockies: I had a day of ski touring, a couple wee runs and a nice long run from Johnson's Canyon to Banff with my running crew. But the real excitement came on Sunday morning, when I committed and registered for my first Ultra - the Miwok 100k!

I have been wanting to do my first 100km race for a long time. I thought about doing it locally, as we do have some great races here in Alberta: The Blackfoot Ultra, The Death Race and the Lost Soul Ultra were all viable options....but none of them got me EXCITED. I kept looking at all of the other great offerings all over North America and I kept coming back to one race: the Miwok 100k! It has everything I was looking for: a mostly local race, beautiful scenery, lots of up and down in a corner of California I have wanted to explore. So I decided it was time to realize the goal and do it sooner than later....so I registered. I am stoked! My friend and Alberta Ultra Triple finisher Jen Silverthorn has been wanting to do this race for some time as well....but the race apparently sold out in less than an hour and she did not get in! Evidently, I am a lucky girl but I sure wish my friend could make the trip out as well.

As always, I enjoyed my weekend with one day skiing, one day running and one day socializing. What can I say? I am a well rounded girl. On Friday we went up to Sunshine Meadows to Rock Isle Lake. This place is one of my favorites in summer and it sure looks different in winter! I love that I get to enjoy this beautiful place in all seasons.

Sunshine Meadows with Laura

On Saturday, I gathered with the trail running friends for a run and I sucked it up and ran on a ROAD for 26km. Can't remember the last time I ran on a road.....really, it has been months. Fortunately, the road was covered in nice packed snow, no traffic and some great views! As we started off on the highway at possibly the narrowest part of the road, this came around the corner:

Remember the Simpsons episode where Homer gets to be a snow plow driver?? That's what I was thinking when this guy almost ran us down!!

Notice the freshly plowed road!! And yes, the tree is in the middle of the road.

It was pretty funny, and we all got a wee bit of snow in the running shoes diving off the road and into the snowbank. And no run would be complete without a little bit of adventure....a little offroading and a little animal underpass. What is an animal underpass you say?? Well, here in the National Park we take good care of our critters and have built them both underpasses and overpasses where they can cross safely across the highway. It keeps us safe from wildlife on the highway as well!

Coming back into town, we got some great views of Mount Rundle and someone had built an igloo on the shore of Vermillion Lakes. Maybe I'll dig out my headlamp and head out there later....

Brenda, Steven and Mike bringin' it home!