Sunday, January 18, 2009

Playtime at Wildknits

It has been years since we have had a sledding fest here at the Wildknits home. Family came for a visit and we headed out to enjoy the sunshine, warm temps (relatively) and abundance of snow.

Our yard has a 'significant' slope. Takes 26 steps to get up to the front yard proper, then 20+ feet of sloped sidewalk followed by another 10 steps to get to the front door. The rest of the yard is another 100 feet or so uphill. We are bordered by an unbuilt road - otherwise known as the sledding hill. Total length... good question, depends on where you start your run ;-> For the most part we stayed near the yard, starting above at the neighbors and heading downhill a hundred feet or so to roll out before going into the road. Not too many obstacles to avoid - other than the pesky street sign at the bottom. There is a point about midway down the hill where you really pick up speed! After a few runs your choice was to "hockey stop" your sled or wind up going over the snow ridge into the road and across to the other side (and possibly over that ridge and into the woods). Not for the faint of heart! Also requires an adult posted at the bottom to watch for cars when kids are on the hill.


Looking up towards the top of the hill from 2/3rds of the way down.


My awesome steering technique as I whiz past family members.

Much fun was had by all - even the timid four year old. She then requested we hike to the "creek". This involved another couple hundred foot climb through knee deep snow till we reached the Superior Hiking Trail. From there it was easy sailing on a packed trail to the creek. On the way up we talked a little bit about Porter. The last time we made this hike together Porter and my niece were inseparable. She was pretty matter of fact about him being dead, though did comment that he is with God. ;->



Running:
Got in a 7 mile run yesterday morning in an inch of fresh snow, then home to shovel all those steps and sidewalks, then some "hill repeats" while sledding ;-> Overall a good workout for the day. Only one soccer game today so should be in good shape for a run tomorrow (unlike last week when 3 hours of soccer just about crippled me for two days). Looking forward to a day off of work and time to enjoy daylight and relax a bit before the work week gets going.

6 comments:

Chris said...

Looks like a blast and gave me a flashback to being a kid on the farm, where if you overshot on the sledding hill, you ended up in the creek...

wildknits said...

I was thinking we should host another sledding party - take advantage of all the snow and allow our friends to revisit their childhoods ;->

The great thing is you are about 20 - 30 feet from the house. So easy to warm up.

Swimming, biking and running! said...

Great fun sledding, keep logging those miles, good work !

wildknits said...

Thanks Jim!

another 5 miles tonight. Amazingly warm run, have forgotten how to dress for temps above 0 ;->

kept having to shed layers ;->

Unknown said...

Nice blog. You run in some crazy cold weather and I'm impressed.
Last year, we ran regularly in -8 to 10 degree weather. I still have a frostbite scar on the tip of my nose.

wildknits said...

Thanks Joel. Comments show up in my home email so I forget to respond here to keep the conversation going ;->