Chuckanut preview 18 miler Feb 28 2009

Tracy and Ana and I did the middle, interesting (mostly) 18 miles of the Chuckanut 50K course in prep for the race in 3 weeks. Surprisingly snowy all over the place, and a bizarro mix of snow/ice/slush/mud along the flat three miles after coming off the ridge across Dan's Traverse and before climbing back up Chinscraper. Cleator Road: some big chunks, ahh, missing. Up on the ridge: maybe my favorite three miles of trail on planet earth for running. And amazing views of Baker and Cascades off to the east.

Frozen little lake up top got my attention--wasn't like that last year.

THANKS whoever drew the big directional arrows in the ground so we didn't go past the Chinscraper turn.

Saw lots of others out there; plenty of pre-event training going on!

Beauty day, great run buds, post-trot Tracy cookies...

Warm dry clothes in the parking lot, fresh coffee in Fairhaven, and home!

Life, she good.

Sat. Feb. 21 at Cougar

Some would say two and half hours and eleven hilly miles with three or four good running buddies makes for a nice day. Tracy B would say it's a nice short warmup. We all finished up happy to be done (none more than me) but Tracy headed back for fourteen more. Sheesh. Musta been Ali's coffee.
Beautiful day!

Cougar Mtn., Feb. 07, 2009

Two loops--11 then 7+. Tracy and Laura S were zooming and could have done the planned 20 but I was sore and tired  and threw a flag at 18ish. Started 6:45 AM; headlights! Sunrise shortly thereafter; intermittent mist, some beautful sunbreaks; dang it was a nice day. FInished with some cookies in the parking lot and my new best friend the portable ice massage. Next weekend off for me; legs happy about it. Good friends, great day. Chuckanut in 6 weeks!

Tiger Mountain, Jan. 19, 2009

Short and sweet: Tracy, Jeff and Robin, and me--11.54 miles. Couple or three summits. Lots of altitude gain/loss. Inversion weather: 30s at base, 60s up top! Warm and beautiful. What is that shiny orb up in the sky? Mountain top: sorta crowded! Downhills: ahhh; young again...Super good peppermint chocolate endurance training cake in parking lot thanks to Robin; then home to a latte! Let's do it again next weekend!