SNOWSHOE ADVENTURE IN THE JEWEL BASIN

Yesterday Callie, Kent and I went snowshoeing in the Jewel Basin wilderness area, which is an area in the Swan Mountains. Ths sky was an unbelievably perfect blue and temperatures rose to around 40 degrees. A perfect day to be out enoying the day. We were out for close to 5 hours and were totally wiped by the end. But it was so exhilirating and beautiful I was on cloud nine. These pictures are totally out of order so bear with me.
There was some sliding too. Kent wanted to slide straight down the face of the mountain but I thought that sounded like a bad idea. This little slope had to suffice.
There was a well-worn snowshoe path which made it easier than it would have been had we been breaking trail. We saw a backcountry skier while we were up there too. The only annoying thing was that snowmobilers were out in full force in the area and occassionally the loud sounds of their snowmobiles interrupted the otherwise peaceful calm. I thought snowmobiles weren't allowed anywhere in the Jewel Basin but evidently I was wrong.

The above picture is where we decided that perhaps we should loop back towards home. I really know little about backcountry snow safety but hiking over that cornice looking thingy didn't seem prudent. Not to mention the strenuous climb. We made our way down off the spine of the mountain and found the trail that led back to Camp Misery and then back down to the car.
This was a very steep climb. Sammi, behind me, kept stepping on the back of my snowshoe as if she were trying to hitch a ride, and Mukwah, in front of me, periodically laid down on the trail to take a rest. Sonja did pretty well though I think she would prefer to be off-leash.

The views of the valley were phenomenal. You can see Flathead Lake behind us. This climb about killed me. I am very sore today.

A PRESIDENTS DAY UPDATE

For some reason we got Presidents' Day off this year. Woohoo that's change I can believe in. I did go into the office this morning for a few hours but headed up to the hill for some skiing. I am getting better but my weak spot is turning on steep downhills. I will be going super slowly one direction but then I get a little scared to turn and head the other way for fear I will pick up too much speed as I'm making my turn. I need to just get over it. Geesh.

Leslie and Keith in Banff just returned from an awesome alpine touring expedition and definitely inspired me to work on my skills. I may just head up to Banff and let them teach me some basics of touring.

In running news, I ran 20 miles yesterday. The first 5 were really fast and the last 15 were nice and slow. I walked a lot the last 5 miles since it's all about "time on my feet." I only ran about 34 miles this week, which is about half what I was running this time last year. However, I got in 4 Crossfit workouts and while I'm a little uneasy about my new approach, I think it will work out fine and, frankly, I can't bring myself to run more than I am running. I'm also able to run faster and doing a weekly speedworkout with Leanne, which is better than I was doing last year.

I'm pretty tired after my "weekend warrior" long weekend. Time to do it all again!!!

Skiing -- Part Deux

Yesterday was a perfect sunny day and I went skiing with girlfriends Krista and Stephanie. We stuck to the beginner lift but did several runs going down the hard way. I had my first "yardsale" where I scattered my stuff along the mountain, though the chair lift guy says it's not really a yardsale if I didn't lose my goggles. We had a really nice day. I can't believe I actually enjoy skiing. Part of it is mastering getting on and off the scary chair lift. Part of it is realizing that I am strong enough to stay in control if I choose to easy down slowly and cautiously.
The best part is I can pretend to be all sporty-like and then enjoy my apres-ski beer doubly.

Putting my race schedule together

So, I've signed up for Diablo, a very tough 50 miler near San Francisco known for getting hot. I am told that it is a great training run for Western States, so I decided to run Diablo rather than Ice Age. I can't see going to Chicago/Wisconsin without taking the time to see all my friends, so I decided to save that one for next year and make it a goal race and take sufficient time off work to see everyone.

I had been planning on the Pacific Rim 24 hour, but Longview, Washington isn't where I thought it was and so rather than being a 5 hour drive it's a 9 hour drive. I must have been confusing it with the Yakima marathon or something. So, I'm not sure now. That's in March, and it would be a good endurance exercise and a good mental exercise and I think it would be fun. But I need Ted to come along and drive me home -- or else I will need to take an extra day off work. Hmmm. I'm not sure whether this will work. I should maybe look into the train.

My eating is a disaster lately so I need to get that in check. But with a very difficult 50 miler coming up in two months I feel more motivated than I felt before to get out the door. For some reason though I've just really been struggling. I think today I'll take my snowshoes out and see if I can't feel the love.

I took my snowshoes out and felt the love. Being outside alone in the woods is recharging. I need to remember that. The sun sure helped.

A Break from the Regularly Scheduled Programming

Today I had my first trial. I mean, I've been on trial teams but today I was first chair and tried a case. I had the benefit of my friend and boss Kim coming to help/supervise/support which made things much easier. She was like crew and pacer rolled into one -- only she was allowed to mule. It was a real estate case that I won't bother to explain, but it was an important day so I thought I should mention it. I don't know yet whether I won or lost, and chances are good that I won't mention it since I try to make it a habit to not really talk work here. But this was a big deal to me so I wanted to share. That is all. Carry on.