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January 8, 2007
Weekend Happenings and Mishappenings
There is good news and bad news.
First the bad news: I dumped my car into a ditch on Saturday. I had no good excuse, really. We were returning from an afternoon of snowshoeing, and it was beautiful and clear. Alternatively, the more appropriate and explainable time to do this would have been on the drive out to the trailhead, as the snowstorm-of-the-day had not yet finished. Oh wow, what an idiot. There was about 8 inches of unplowed powder on the road. I successfully turned a corner, then became suddenly inattentive and drove off the road. The car nearly rolled over and most of it (including the exhaust pipe) was buried deep in snow. Resultingly, we had to stand outside in the bitter cold (in wet running clothes) for 2 hours until a tow truck came and yanked me out. My feet were so numb in wet running shoes and socks by the time I got home that I had begun to wonder about frostbite. My toes were really painful to warm up again, but they are just fine. Notably, the winter storm of the weekend dumped a ton of snow and my car was safely padded by several feet of snow when it ended up half on its side in the ditch. There was no damage, aside from a hefty tow bill!
That was good news, as was the rest of my weekend. The name of the game this weekend was powder. So much snow fell on the west side of the Teton Mountains this weekend that the possibility of running without snowshoes was negligible. So, we just embraced the snowstorm and snowshoe ran our way through the weekend. After a big weekend of snowshoe running, my muscles are way, way fatigued, but I don't feel any of the joint aches I normally would after so much time spent running.
A peek out the window on Saturday morning yielded a big surprise: lots of new snow and it was still falling. We headed out to a canyon on the west side of the Tetons called Darby Canyon. This canyon climbs gradually into the Tetons. When we arrived at the trailhead, no one was there and we had about 6 inches of untouched powder to ourselves. It was quite cold, so the fallen snow was light and fluffy, perfect for snowshoe running. As the afternoon progressed, a few snowmobilers and cross-country skiiers came out into the canyon, and we shared the trail. Everyone out there was supremely happy and friendly. Midway through our run, the snowstorm cleared, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful late afternoon. That is, until I drove into a ditch.
Sunday's snowshoe run was just plain insane. I do not recommend that anyone spend 4:15 running through powder on snowshoes. Okay, go run on a groomed trail as much as you want. But don't do this. This was excruciatingly difficult. I couldn't be more happier that it's over. In all seriousness, it was a pretty sweet but very challenging experience. The snow returned on Saturday night and it continued all day Sunday. We did Sunday's snowshoe run in another canyon on the west side of the Tetons called North Leigh Canyon. We never saw another soul out there all afternoon (Rightfully so, I guess, as there was a snowstorm in progress.) At the trailhead, there was probably 8 inches of untracked powder. As we climbed higher, I was up to my knees in powder. I'm not joking, at all.
We had intended to run for at least 4 hours, 2 hours out and 2 hours back. About an hour into the run, we realized that there was no way we could continue running in progressively deeper and deeper snow. So, we did 2 out-and-backs along our own snowshoe tracks. Interestingly, inches of snow fell into our tracks while we were gone, and so each time back-and-forth yielded a powdery snowshoe run on a packed base. I hit the proverbial wall-o-glycogen depletion at just over 3 hours into the run. This was the hardest part of the run for me. It took me about 15 minutes to get through that low point, and the rest was survivable. We arrived back at the trailhead just as it was getting dark, and I was elated to see the car.
In all, this weekend was an awesome training weekend. We got in all the time-on-feet that we wanted. I could do without driving into ditches and things of that sort. However, if I am to drive into a ditch, then the snowy, undamaging one that I ended up in was the perfect place to have it happen. Training-wise, my only concern is that I'm doing too much low-impact snowshoeing. I hope that I'm gaining more muscle strength from it, but I'm slightly worried that my body is becoming unaccustomed to the underfoot pounding of regular trail running. However, if I am to trail run in the winter around here, snowshoe running is the only way to do it.
Posted by Meghan at January 8, 2007 10:22 AM
Comments
" It took me about 15 minutes to get through that low point," How did you do it? You ate something? Drink? What an amazing weekend....
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at January 8, 2007 12:09 PM
Corrado,
I tried to eat a Clif Bar, but it made me want to upchuck. So I daintily sipped Gatorade, as I had been doing throughout the run. The lead-leg feeling eventually went away, and I was able to keep running at pace. Must have been the sugar from the Gatorade that did it.
Posted by: Meghan at January 8, 2007 2:34 PM
Whoa! I am so glad you are okay from your "off-roading" driving adventure! Glad you did not roll the car. But really, being out there in the cold in wet clothes? Yikes. We were on the road driving toward Teton Valley and it was so bad, I was happy to get back home to the warmth of my cozy fireplace. And to think you were out there standing and waiting for a towtruck? BRRRR. I got cold just reading about it! :) Frozen toes = miserable.
You guys did some serious snowshoe running! I'm impressed. How fun! There's a 5K and 10K snowshoe race down here on Saturday:
http://www.pb-performance.com/pb/USSSA.htm
I bet you could win! :)
Posted by: anne at January 9, 2007 8:27 AM
Ciao Meghan, thanks!
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at January 9, 2007 10:04 AM