New Years Eve & New Years Day Double

We drove up to Bellingham with Margaret and Jenny on Tuesday and stayed with my parents. Had a lovely dinner with all six of us, and a nice visit with Mom and Dad. Got up and faced a tough run at Last Chance. The first one or two miles were snowy and slushy, slippin' and slidin' everywhere, then it settled down to a beautiful, soft trail. We did a double out and back, resulting in messing with the snow four times in all - somewhere between four and eight miles of it. We didn't wear traction, because we knew there were clear trails ahead. Though I remembered the steep climb on one of the crossing roads, I'd forgotten about the little ravine we had to go through. The weather was perfect - right around 40 and dry. The night before we had howling winds and pounding rain, so we felt very lucky. Once again, dealing with snow extended everyone's times. Margaret and I made it in 6:16.

After the race, we slipped into dry, warm clothes, hit the Starbucks and drove to Seattle. We all stayed at Margaret's Green Lake condo which was wonderful. A nice evening of hanging out with friends, and an early New Year's Eve. We were in bed by 11:00, preparing to face today's race. This was the first double for both Jenny and Margaret. We figured we neede some extra time, so we took the early start this morning. Margaret and I started, with many others, in near dark. In fact, there was a rooster perched in a tree beside the trail, crowing as we ran by. The RD warned us we had a mile of snowy slush to deal with, then occasional patches. Once again it was slick and slow going. Also, due to construction, we ended up with another double out-and-back. It's fun that way because you see lots of runners, but sometimes that second out-and-back can be mentally challenging. We had Rick with us for the first 13, then we got a mile or so of Jenny and Rob during the second. Our final time was 6:42. Oh, we also got to see two bald eagles perched in a tree above the trail!

I have to admit, I was really tired during the last six miles. I couldn't figure out why everything felt so good during the triple a few weeks ago and not today, till Margaret pointed out that was exactly why - the triple was 4.5 weeks ago, and my last marathon was 11 days ago. I guess that could make a girl tired. Maybe I'll get some pictures up in the next few days. In the meantime, Eric and I are hosting a birthday party tomorrow night. I've got work to do! And, for the record, I'll be 51. I guess running a double the couple days before ain't too shabby for an old girl!