Its a Powder Day!!!

Snowboarder in Training

After not getting to ride the past two years I was more than ready to finally hit the slopes. We'd been keeping our eye on the weather and this week was the week to take a mini vacation and head to Winter Park. Snowboarding used to be my life in the winter. Runs were set aside for fresh powder and I rarely raced in the spring because of this. Getting pregnant put a quick end to my days of selfishly spending every moment of free time on the hunt for powder.

While we knew a storm was heading in we didn't anticipate quite how amazing it would be. Thursday morning we woke up slopeside to 12" in fresh powder and it was still dumping. We had driven up to Winter Park the afternoon before and so far James was loving it! We were hopefully this attitude would last through the next couple days when we took him to a new daycare. James tends to clam up and get really shy in new environments. So with fresh snow on the ground, we bundled up James, crossed our fingers and headed out to daycare. 

Lovin' the Cheeky Monk!

We got to the daycare and spent a bit of time filling out the necessary paperwork and giving them the low down on James. Finally it was time to hand him over, for a slight moment his lower lip came out and started to quiver. Dan and I kissed him goodbye and the girls took him to play. By the time we hit the door we could hear James' giggle and he was off playing. Time for Dan and I to play!

The term epic gets thrown around quite a bit, but honestly Thursday was epic! Everyone was talking about how the snow hadn't been that good in years! With the falling snow we had fresh tracks all day long! It took a couple runs to really feel comfortable on my board again, but it's like the old adage just like riding a bike. My turns came back, my independent leg motion took over and we cruised all over Mary Jane. A good powder day is never complete without apres so we took James to the Cheeky Monk for a couple beers and an early dinner. He loved it! Totally hamming it up with the tables around us and gorging himself on fish and fries. Thankfully James partied just as hard at daycare as we did on the mountain and we were all fast asleep quite early...dreaming of more powder.

Lovin' the snow conditions!

Friday we were not disappointed. Another 11" greeted us in the morning and we had another day of fresh tracks. Friday we took to exploring the trees a bit more and had a phenomenal time! Thanks to our amazing ability to take advantage of every free moment James is in daycare we were even able to sneak in 15 min in the hot tub before we had to pick him up.  All in all it was just the week we needed. We all loved Winter Park and getting back on the snow. My mileage was ridiculously low, but based on the exhaustion my body felt after a couple days of waist deep powder I'd say I still managed a fairly good workout! Even more than the physical benefits of hitting the snow were the mental benefits. It was good to take a mini break from running to do one of my other loves. Of course it didn't hurt that these were some of the best days of the year to be on a snowboard! It was a good reminder that not every day has to be focused on running to be successful. If Killian Jornet and Emile Forsberg can spending the winter skiing I'm sure a lowly runner like myself can spend some time enjoying the snow as well.

Week January 27 - February 2

Miles Running: 15.0

Hours Hiking, Running and Riding: 14.5