I'm like, so totally excited now. Yes, for Susitna.

This weekend I went to Utah and hung out with Meghan Hicks and a couple of her friends in the Uintas of Utah.  Meghan lives in Park City, which is a fun little ski town, and put together this adventure that was too good to pass up.  Indeed, we had a wonderful time playing in the snow and I even turned off my cell phone for more than 24 whole hours (to make up for the time spent at Deer Valley on Friday where I was glued to my stupid smart phone, returning emails and phone calls and generally fitting every bad stereotype of lawyers). 

I had the opportunity to practice running with a sled.  My friend Andrew loaned me his sled, which was pretty awesome because he has logged probably 1,000 trail miles on this sled.  He has won the Susitna and won the Yukon Arctic Ultra and done all manner of arctic nonsense.  He gave me some advice too.  I feel really lucky to know so many people (three!) with experience doing these oddities.  

Up until this weekend I was looking forward to Susitna but never thinking it would be enjoyable.  After spending a weekend in terrain that, though at 8,500 feet or so, resembles my fantasy of Alaska I am downright stoked for Susitna.  There's something exhilirating about open snowy expansive terrain.  Of course, we had great weather this weekend and I expect that's a critical factor in the "fun" thing.

Pictured above was our weekend home -- the Colton Guard Station.  For a USFS cabin it was pretty luxurious with a wood stove and an actual propane powered stove, like a real kitchen one, and it was really clean and lovely.  I am motivated to do more of these weekend trips and would like to try renting a nearby cabin before winter is over.  Perhaps the dogs can pull the sled.

One of the things that struck me about the weekend as well is how lucky I am to know such cool people like Meghan.  She, like Jill (one of the three!), is someone I met through Keith and Leslie who I basically met through blogging.  These are all people whose paths I would likely cross anyhow given our common interests and often similar race schedules, but it's pretty neat (and efficient) that one can make such awesome friends in such a strange way.  Anyhow, Meghan is a uniquely cool chica and little does she know that I spent my morning run planning our Himalayan vacation for 2012 or 2013.