A Sure Sign of Spring.

Actually, it's been stormy, wet and miserable here the past week.  Cold and windy with major squalls moving though the area and a ton of snow in the mountains.  It seems like it has been like this all week.  the wind downtown was unreal.  I was walking to work and the wind was strong enough to push me around.

And of course this coincides with the highest mileage week in marathon training.  Sigh.

Spring is here though!  It's definitely lighter and I was back on a trail this morning.  I am so not in single track trail shape right now.  Wow.  It's amazing how different running single track trails feels when you've been doing roads/groomed trails.  I could feel the strength workout and enjoyed the hip/calf/hamstring workout.  And since we've had so much rain, the trails were pretty muddy and slick which gives a good core workout.  Fun stuff!  I had a great time trotting easily on Coal Creek Trail from the shore of Lake Washington to Wilderness Peak on Cougar Mountain and back down the mountain to SR 900.  Ok the trot down the mountain was a bit painful.  My quads were a bit quivery by the time i was done!

Coal Creek between Lake Washington and Red Town Trailhead is my favorite in-city trail.  Yep, it's a slog uphill the whole way but the trail feels very remote and goes by some historic mining activity.  It's single track and winds around the ravine of Coal Creek.  A few years ago the trail was heavily damaged in a severe rain event.  They've replaced bridges which were washed away and today i saw they've been working on patching some of the rougher trail areas.  They were getting a bit barren in places and I often felt like i was in danger of loosing the trail and slipping down the hillside to the creek. It's great to see that these well-loved trails are being cared for. 

Early April means the trilliums are just blooming and the bleeding hearts are getting ready.  The moss is a brilliant chartreuse color which looks like sunlight is hitting it but it really is just glowing all by itself.  Coal Creek was running strongly and the falls were the fullest I've seen.  The forest smells wonderfully fresh and clean and I felt fabulous.  Just 10 miles for this run although it is a longer and harder run just because of terrain and time spent running.  I'll follow today's fun trot with a longer road run and hope my quads don't complain too much. I lived up to the blog name.  Even after scrubbing my toes in the shower, i still have mud. 

And now we have a new ritual of spring.  Last fall we planted a rhubarb plant.  Today was the first harvest day.  Rhubarb is just bizarre.  We've been watching its growth with interest.  So I went out and wiggled and then yanked out a couple of stalks.  chopped them up and we now have some rhubarb bread to enjoy.

Spring!