Wintry mornings

So it's dark when I leave the house.  So the temperatures are in the teens. So there's snow and ice on the ground.  Ah....so what when you've got views like this.  Let's run some more!

Looking west from the Meadowlark Trail, November 23, 2013

17?! Snow?! Say wha?!

I waited and waited and waited today but the temps refused to climb out of the teens and the snow refused to stop flying.  Thus I had to refresh my memory about just how one dresses for this kind of weather:  w
hich tights or tights combination, which socks keep the tootsies warmest, which shoes best grip the snow, how many layers on top, which jacket fits over all those layers, don't forget the neck warmer, where are my toastiest mittens. Quite the production!

No such questions for Taz.  Put on the harness and leash and the pup is ready to go - and lovin' it!

DANK Loop

After September's floods and widespread trail destruction, creativity was required to find good locations for hill repeats.  We seem to have landed upon a winner - nicknamed DANK in my log since it follows DArtmouth-Norton-Kenwood streets.  It is located in a quiet neighborhood in southwest Boulder, near NIST, and measure out to a .7247 mile loop that goes up up up then down down down, which we run over and over (and over and over and over) again (5 loops is our tops so far). On some mornings, we're lucky enough to get a dose of extra inspiration from the CU ski team doing much of the same loop on their roller skis.  On other mornings, we've learned the hazards of talking basketball (running buddy Connie and I are both avid followers of the CU women's basketball team) while running the loop. ( Loop time while talking basketball: 8:40s; time on final loop when we quieted down: 7:53.)  We were out there again this morning, running beneath a blue sky and setting moon - with very ominous clouds hanging just over the Continental Divide; supposedly  a snow storm is moving in tonight.  The next big test for the loop is whether or not those streets are plowed in the winter!