Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Sunshine returned today after being away for the past several days (and because of no sunshine I finally had to turn on the heat yesterday), accompanied by some nice wind--so perfect running conditions!

But 15 minutes down the Headquarters trail, disaster--the waist drawstring on my O' pants snapped. None of my options looked good--run while holding up my pants with one arm, discard the pants and run in just short running shorts, wait in place and hope for an emergency Amazon drone to find me and drop some replacement pants--and, having spotted fresh snowsnake tracks in the area just yesterday, I knew the longer I took to deal with the situation the greater the danger.

So I yanked out one half of the snapped string. gathered in as much fabric as I could from the pants top, and used the string to knot it off. It held. And off running again--whew! As far as I could tell, no snowsnakes were homing in on me, but until they draw close, you can never tell. They're amazingly good as detecting either carbon dioxide emissions or heat sources--much, much better than mosquitoes, by way of comparison.

In the end, it was a great but sad run, knowing what I would have to do when I got home--which would be to go out into the yard and build a small pyre.

There was cremation (for the O' pants.) They were a good pair and gave great service for many, many years and will be missed, but their time had come.

C • Drawstrings can be replaced... 2

If memory serves, December 7 is not only a day of infamy, but it is also the day that locally has the briefest afternoon of the year. (And if memory doesn't serve, it's close enough.) Three cheers for that latter fact!

Very light amounts of snow in town during the day. The thing mainly achieve was the blockage of the sun, rather than any meaningful amounts of accumulation of new snow.

Ran trails up top, and it looked like about 1" of new snow, with snow falling lightly while I was running. Didn't see anyone else out, and both parking lots were empty.

Coldest day of the season so far; I don't think it got above 20F, A nice amount of wind kept the fresh air coming. Light snow fell during the afternoon, and, while every bit helps, it's going to take more helping than this to get the ski trails shipshape.

Despite the thin coverage (and the fence hasn't even been opened up yet around the campground loop), the high school ski team was out today, skiing on the part of the loop that was skiable, and out into the meadow. Better than nothing I suppose, but I will stick to running until things get better. They will get better, surely, right? Right? This has been the worst start to skiing locally since I've been here.

One funny thing is that while the snow coverage is skimpy for skiing, conditions for snow biking are really, really good now, with the new snow. Yet I've only so far seen one biker out so far. It makes me wonder if they all took their fat tires down to New Mexico to do battle with the thorns and goatheads there.

Chillier out than I have felt for a while--low teens while I was out running, and down into the single digits by the time I was back home. Feels like winter should feel around here, and thanks to a few inches of new snow yesterday, it finally looks like winter, too. The snow was a huge help in improving the trail running conditions, as almost any portions of trails that weren't bare were either icy or verging on being icy, and quite slippery.

Most of the ski trails had been rolled, and there's enough coverage now to keep rock skiers happy. But I will hold off until at least one more good snow comes--hopefully before this month expires!

Long run up at Happy Jack, clocking in at just under three hours, at a pace that can be best described as leisurely. Windy, but not bad windy, and quite mild (50s), so very pleasant out despite the wind. I saw one freshly blown down tree across a trail, but otherwise I didn't come across any new scenes of destruction. Probably I just ran in the wrong place.

Winter came roaring back into the area at 9:53 pm. I know, because I was in the kitchen preparing an exceptionally delicious pre-winter lemon pie, and I got it done just in time because I heard extra wind noise outside and, looking out the window, I witnessed the first blasts of snow arriving on gale force winds--and checked my watch to precisely time the event. In the space of a mere few minutes, everything outside went to white. Dang. Now I might even have to wax some skis.

Despite it being winter (they say), there is not much sign of it, other than occasional icy stretches of trail higher up in the hills. I did note some fading snowmobile tracks on several of the ski trails while I was running today.

But got to bike in shorts again today, so not all bad. Plus, California poppies have started to grow back in from their roots in my yard--interesting, considering they are annuals and the fact that this certainly isn't sunny California here.

All that said, I have confidence that sooner or later, we will get some colder temps and some snow again. Either that, or, well, you know, we won't. ; )