Is it ever too cold to run?

We did squeeze in another trail run today!  I left my house and the temp read....

What to do?  Well, I'm already up, I'm already dressed, I already in the car!!  Might as well go!!
It warmed up quite a bit and as I got closer to Michele's the temp had risen....

This was going against our rule of running only when it reaches double digits! But...We were doing it anyway!

I had been running so late this morning that I didn't get in a very good breakfast.  Luckily in my trail bag I had one of these.  I started to eat.  "Hmmm....I have tasted this flavor before.  It tastes like..."
"Seven-meal." Michele said.
"No, not that." I replied.
Michele started laughing!  "I said it's 7 now!  The temperature!"
Oh!  Haha
This is our drive to the trails.  We are frozen, tired, hungry and giggling all the way!

When we got to the parking lot at Camel's Back Michele gasped! "I forgot my watch! I was so worried that I would forget my hat that I left my watch!"  So today she did what Runner's World calls a 'Gadget free run'. Well, never fear, I have my watch!

The parking lot was EMPTY!  Not one single car in the lot.  Our starting temp was 5 degrees. Off we go!

The run was the exact same course as Monday so nothing new to report there.  I kept fogging up my glasses so I had to run the first mile or so without them on in order to keep my gaiter over my nose.  My eyelashes started to freeze together!

Here you can see some of the ice crystals forming on them!  At the end of the run of my hair that had peaked out of my hat were frozen and crystallized too!

It was COLD!  When we finished our run it was 7 degrees! WOW! WE are crazy!  But we were dressed correctly and really didn't feel too cold!

After the run we went in search of Hot chocolate!  Michele's husband said that coffee shops have hot chocolate.  SO we went to the Moxie Java drive through.  This was an interesting experience.  First Michele orders two small hot chocolates.  He asks if any of them would be for a child.  WAIT! Does that mean there is coffee in them?  No he says.  That seemed like a strange thing to ask us then.  Then he asked if we wanted whipped cream. Mmmmm YES!

He then tells us to pull the window wefqeiubq.  That was not a typo. We couldn't understand what he said.  We pulled to the first window and nothing happened.  "I don't think he's at this one."  I said.  "Pull to the next one."  SO Michele did.  When he opened the window  he said 'you missed it'.  Whoops he must have said window one!  After he left to get the hot chocolate Michele wondered, " How do you drink Hot Chocolate with whipped cream on top?"

So, she just licked off all of the Whipped cream, took a sip, and yelled out.  

"Does it have coffee in it?" I gasped.

"No, it's hot!" She laughed.

I figured it out that you let the hot chocolate go through the whipped cream as you sip it, yummy!

Great run today. Cold weather but beautiful in the trails!  Yummy treat afterwards!  And a fun filled drive home of laughter!!

Two days of great snowy trail training completed!  We are ready for Saturday's race! Watch out because here come the Soul Sisters....TEAM AWESOME!

Much Needed Therapy!!!

We have both had a tough week of life drama.  Plus, the weather has been TERRIBLE!  Not only has there been snow but the temps have been in the single digits.  On a couple days we were forced to stay indoors and run on the dreaded hated treadmill!  We were both at our limit of limits!  If I didn't get a trail run in soon I was going to go crazy!  We needed therapy!  Trail therapy!  SO this weekend we planned a Monday morning run.

"We are going no matter what!" I told Michele. "No cancelling!"

Later I received a text from Michele that gave hints of her backing out due to the cold and snow....

 I was so happy that she is not a wimp after all!
We opted to run Camel's Back.  We have a nice favorite loop that we do; Lower parking lot up to Kestral, turn left and do a little of Crestline, then left on the first Redcliffs Trailhead.  We run this down and across the road then head up Chickadee.  From there we veer onto Redwinged Blackbird which drops us back down by the Pond Loop and to the Parking lot.  It is a great loop approx 5.6 miles.

Our start time kept getting bumped back because it was sooooo cold!  I woke up to 5 degrees.  By the time I did leave and reach Michele's it was 10 degrees.  We only run if it's double digits at least so, Here we go!

Yaktrax on? CHECK!

Watch find Satellite? CHECK!

All exposed skin covered up? CHECK!

We were dressed in a ton of layers!  We were trying out our gear for this Saturday's upcoming race; Wilson Creek Frozen.

At first our legs were so wobbly trying to get used to the uneven snow surface.  It was packed down really nicely but I kept stepping in snow holes that I couldn't see.  This made me feel like I had really weird ankles and was quite funny.  Eventually I got the hang of it.

What a beautiful run.  We didn't see any other runners.  What a shame that so many people were missing out on this awesome crisp morning!

Therapy session completed.  Running in the whiteness, the quiet, it is so energizing.  The big things that seem to be problems get smaller with every step you take on the snow packed trail.  You just feel better.

We headed home feeling refueled and pumped up!  So pumped in fact that Michele sent me a text before I had even arrived back home...

"Can you go again on Wednesday?"

"YES!!!!"