Another kind of double...(part II)

After such a fabulous bike ride, I spent the evening eating and hydrating and getting ready for the next outing the following morning.

This was going to be a long trail run in the foothills of the cascades. The morning was perfect and Sj was kind enough to drive over to the trailhead as I didn't want to take our car the entire day again.

We drove past the parking lots for Mount Si and onto a smaller trailhead. After an application of bug spray I was off to climb a hill. the main goals today were:

• don't fall
• take lots of pictures
• keep it real easy and enjoy myself

And that is exactly what I did.

The trail started on a graveled access road which went straight up for two miles. I walked when I felt like it and just kept chugging ever upwards. The views even as I approached the top were magnificent. there was still snow on the higher peaks and it was so peaceful.

Legs were feeling pretty good. It was fairly warm out and quite comfortable to be out with sleeveless shirt and shorts. Summer definitely feels like it has arrived in the Northwest. I started to get passed by the faster runners in our group and everyone had a nice grin as did I.

Soon we came to what was called the CCC Road. this was a pleasant and easy trail. In places it was rocky but mostly runnable. It really had it all. There were great views and stream crossings, trees were down to jump over, mossy vistas to admire and fun. I started catching other people on the run and asking those who had biked the day before how that was for them. (hilly! hot! and "I did it" from most) And then we came to the most challenging crossing at around mile 6.

I stayed to watch and help others across this stream. It wasn't too deep or too fast moving but it was easy to fall in as rocks and a big metal pipe (?) were slippery and not too stable. It was an opportunity to snack and take in some water and chat with everyone.

Onward to the upcoming rock slides. These are always interesting to me and sure enough I came to one soon. It looks like a giant played marbles and pick up sticks and then had a tantrum and threw everything about. Slow going picking a way over the rock field and of course marveling over the destructive yet beautiful power of nature.

The legs were definitely feeling the miles at that point. I would stop and take photos and tried some Gu Chomps. These are pretty tasty but have such a strong fruit smelling flavor that I though for certain all the bears would come right out of the woods. I decided to keep moving!

After about 10 miles, the trail ended and I came to the Middle Fork Road along the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. The river was gorgeous and very peaceful and when I popped out onto the graveled road, there was no one around. I stopped to take it all in and just reflect how happy I am to be able to do such things as there are a few people in my life right now who have been limited by injuries and illnesses.

In fact, I had been dawdling so much that Sj and LB had caught up to me. Sj was much delighted with this and we chatted about how awesome the run had been. The road we were on started to get really annoying as there was a fair bit of traffic on it. The cars/suvs/trucks would kick up a ton of dust as they blew by and we all felt like we'd had dust baths. I was having so much fun that I was really sorry to reach the support vans and have the running be over.

It was surely a great weekend!