Hiatus

One of the highlights of this summer was discovering the world's most perfect running trail in Millcreek Canyon. At least once each week I'd park the car at the Pipleline Trailhead parking lot, hike straight up for a mile, then run for six more until I looped back to the car. Once the kids went back to school, it got too dark in the mornings to get the run in and get back in time to get everyone out the door, so I tried to fit a run in on mornings when Eddie was around, or someone was home to watch Maren. Every week slipped into every couple of weeks, and then I started thinking my last run had already happened. I ran it about ten days ago and figured that was my last run for the season.

But today was a beautiful day. It was sunny and warm, and Ed was home from work. So I took Isaac to preschool and headed up to the canyon. I hiked the hike, ran along the trail, and enjoyed the peace. During the summer, there are lots of cars and bikers and dogs up there, but today it was just me. Before I reached the road (three miles left in the run) I looked down and realized that the road's shoulder was covered in snow. When I got down to the road, it was slippery, covered with black ice, and even with my trail shoes, I felt nervous that I'd go sliding into the path of an oncoming car. Eventually I ran out of the snow, and I figured out that if I stayed on the shoulder, I wouldn't slip. But I'm retiring the canyon run. At least until the spring.