Third day of spring, first day in shorts

Last week's Sunday run on Cougar Mountain was a winter wonderland of snow and slush -  this week was different in so many ways. The sky was clear, at least for the first half, I was running alone and much more relaxed. Last week was my first trail run in quite a while - the longer I stayed away the harder the early wakeup and steep hills seemed. The winter weather, work and traveling were part of the reason I missed many runs, but fear held me back a bit, too. Last week reminded me of what I had forgotten: the beauty of the forest, the soft trails, the spirited conversations and sandwiches to keep us going, and the incomparable feeling of getting in the heated car at the end of the run. 

This morning was much easier to get out the door - and I made it even easier on myself by taking the bus instead of biking. I've often thought that grinding up the hills to the store at 6:30 is the hardest part. So today there was no hardest part. Two of the three other runners did the Chukanut 50K yesterday, and we got to hear the recap on the drive out - hearing from the ultrarunners is always a huge inspiration to me. After Boston I'm thinking of a 50K trail race as my next goal...

We ran 14 miles along a different route than last week - I'm very happy I was able to keep a rhythm going the whole time, and not walk any of the uphills. As slow as those tiny steps felt, it still was faster than hiking up. So hooray for the Sunday run!