Life Running Beautifully

I took this past weekend off skiing to enjoy some long runs with the ladies - Angela and Iris.  It's always good to spend some quality time with people who like the same things as you do.  In our case:  spending time outside and running long silly distances in the mountains.  It makes you feel less weird for what others sometimes perceive as a "strange" recreational hobby.  Quality time with the ladies involves lots of time running around in the woods, eating and relaxing and of equal importance:  lots of time to talk about things like upcoming running races, dreams and future running adventures.  I need and enjoy talking about this stuff and really - who else wants to hear about your running habit? Fortunately, these ladies do.  Isn't that what friendship is all about?  A honest sharing of feelings without the fear of being judged, trust in one another, mutual understanding and positive reciprocity.  Friends are Good.  And Running Friends are real good!  It's always good to have a little support in this world.

On the running front, we hit the trails of Banff on Saturday and managed to connect up 4 hours of running on packed snow trails.  We hit the Bow River trails to Bow Falls, the Fenland Trail, the March Loop and the Tunnel Mountain Trail amongst others.  Despite the cold temperatures, it was a beautiful day.  We were slow but we had a good time and we got some quality time on our feet.  It's running season again - the girls and myself all have races on the horizon, so it's time to train.  Giddy Up!

On Sunday, we headed for Sulphur Mountain for a little vertical challenge.  We decided to connect up a big loop with a power hike up the Banff Gondola Trail and a big fun snowshoe descent down the backside of Sulphur starting and finishing at my house in Banff. Again, the temperatures were freezing but the sunshine cooperated and it turned into an outstanding day - and tons o' fun. 

This is what the trail conditions looked like on the backside of Sulphur:

Sometimes, the backside of Sulphur is a miserable place to be.  It's a old grade road that is seriously exposed to the elements and the wind, in particular. Fortunately for us it was a calm and clear day and we were in Snowshoe Heaven!!  Seriously, this perfect snow was as good as it gets for snowshoeing. 

Giddy Up, indeed.  Life Running Beautifully.