It's been one of those weeks ... I stubbed my toe really badly Wednesday night culminating in me lying on the floor while everyone is in bed, first cursing a blue streak, then curled up in the fetal position weeping like a little baby; Thursday night the same foot and ankle decided to cramp up for no reason where I didn't know if I should cry or laugh, then today I was supposed to run my long run before a long stint of on-call will limit running for the next week but hubby booked my car to go in to the shop to get a recall fixed on it which was going to delay my run, the wind was picking up and my trail running partner was coming to town for a doctor's appointment so we were going to try and have a lunch time visit. I decided to delay my long run until next week after all my call and, if I felt up for it, would go out for a "whatever" run this afternoon.
After a wonderful short lunch with my running partner and all caffeinated and sugared up, I decided to head out. We're in a warm up for the next week so the snow is melting, leaving treacherous patches of water with sneaky ice under it on the sidewalks. I decided after a little warm up run around the park, I would head over to the coulee to see what it would be like. We've had a lot of wind and some warmer weather so areas looked blown off and runable.....well, it was....initially. Then I got off the beaten path of the dog walkers, and tried to follow the mountain bike course but was quickly mid-calf deep in snow. I back tracked a bit and followed a trail that some sort of ATV had made. Again, I decided to follow the mountain bike course up into a hilly ridge, following some deer tracks and was quickly in deep snow again, but decided to keep going. I was high stepping, embracing my inner deer, going by the spot they had obviously bedded down. There were other neat tracks - little bird foot prints, and some other little critter, I couldn't figure out. I know I have scared up a fox in the fall running here, but the tracks seemed a little small for that. Regardless, it was interesting looking at the tracks, finding the bedding down areas and the droppings. As I made my way back to the more travelled portion of the trail, I got into some even deeper snow, past my knee. Now I am whooping like a little kid, my feet are wet, I am trudging through, just having a jolly good time. I'm sure if I met someone else out there, they would think I was a little looney. But hey, you gotta make the best of what you are given and make it fun. I got to the area where the snow was blown off, and found the mud was quite slick and slippery along the top ridges. Now I am giggling and whooping even more, leaping from snow mound to snow mound, just trying to stay upright. I make my way back to where I started where the snow is better and decided to carry on a little more and explore another area of the coulee, finding another portion of the trail that I seem to always miss the last couple times I was out. All in all, I ran just over six km, embraced my inner child, and had a hoot playing in the snow.
I hope everyone has a great weekend of running and can also take some time to embrace their inner child and have a little bit of childish fun 😊
Second consolidation run - that was a bit different!
Wow that was a shock. 
Is that the sun I see?
