Early AM - Got up at 4:30 to meet Jun at the Pipeline trail head at 5:30. Started out the run on somewhat packed, but still uneven and heavy, dense snow. It was still runnable, but not very stable. We both kept thinking it would get better. It didn't. In fact we got to a point where there were no tracks. Great. Had to plow through a bunch of it. The highlight was we came across a relatively fresh deer carcass that, by all appearances, had been killed by a mountain lion. Craig was hoping to see it lurking, but that didn't happen. Oh, near the turn around point we did see a little bit of that brown stuff, I think they call it dirt. It's been so long, I believe thats what it looks like. Ended up cutting down to the road and running back up to the car via that route. I think we're going to try and go back out in a bit and see if we can muster up some more miles. After a few finger sized holes appeared in my 101's, I went ahead and picked up some Cascadia 6's yesterday, so this was their maiden voyage. So far so good. Lunch - Now thats what I'm talking about! After a fairly dismal start to the day, and a pretty pathetic run on the Dimple Dell trail on Wednesday, we decided to go give it another shot. I couldn't believe the difference from then! Where we had been slogging through snow at an 11 minute pace just two days ago, we were now enjoying cruising up the hills on dry ground at a decent pace. Hardly any snow to be seen. Ran to the top of the trail, up to Bell Canyon trailhead, and up the Reservoir. I couldn't seem to get very good speed on the steep climbs, I don't know if it was the early morning miles, the snow covered trail (there was snow on that part) or getting used to the new, heavier shoes. Who knows, maybe a little of both. Ran around the reservoir and then made our way back down. Tight switchbacks in the snow always make for an entertaining run. The fun thing about this trail is that you can work pretty hard to climb all the hills to get to the top, and then you just kind of go on autopilot and cruise down. Was pretty dang tired by the time we got back to the car, but I was SO happy with the weather and condition of the trails, and equally as please with the splits I ended up with. I don't know if you're supposed to run 24 miles on your new shoes first outing...but I did. Seemed to work out OK. Scott...they did get a little dirty though. :) 2nd run - 15.4 miles - 2:19:39 - 9:09 Pace -1359 vert
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