The Big Chill

It's been a challenging week to be a runner. I missed a few midweek runs with the cold weather descending on the valley and dipping into dangerously cold. By Friday, things had warmed up to a balmy -19c and I was desparate to get outside. I ran up Sulfur Mountain and then headed back down to the Fenland Trail. By that time the wind had picked up and it was c-c-cold again. I hid in the forest, resurrected the IPod which I haven't used since last winter and did laps of the 2km forest trail. In summertime, this would be the most boring of boring runs, but in wintertime everything gets transformed into a magical winter wonderland! That's good because I did 6 laps. I ran for 5 hours and felt pretty good about it.



For the weekend, we were looking forward to skiing in to Egypt Lake Shelter, but when the weather was forecast to be below -30c we thought it was best and safest to NOT wake up in a little cabin in the woods. Instead, we skiied up Healy Pass and then returned to the comfort of home. It was a cold day and I was having difficulty staying warm despite a ski that climbed for 8km!! It was the right decision for us. It was a beautiful day and you could see and feel the cold all around us. Stu and Anna continued up and over the pass and enjoyed a night at the shelter, while we scurried home to the hot tub. :)




On Sunday morning it was -30c in town and Keith and I were glad to enjoy a lazy morning. By mid-afternoon it was -25C, practically tropical so we headed into the forest behind our house and up the hill to try and get warm! We did a kick-ass short but sweet run of 1 hour with some tough climbing and I couldn't believe how strong Keith is. He hasn't lost any of his fitness and he's so excited to be back running. He was giddy to be ripping around in the woods, even in the -25C.



Last night, things had warmed up to a most enjoyable -10c, which was aaaaawesome so we jumped back on the Tuesday night program, the Sulfur Mountain night run. There were big smiles and sounds of "Weeeeeeeee!" in the woods. Yay for a week of normal temperatures in the forecast!