So this is spring?

Pictures from Tuesday morning, standing on my front porch and looking south. If you embiggen them you may be able to see the 1/4 inch of ice encasing the branches. My front porch is about 10-12 feet above the yard, with 12 steps leading down to the sloped sidewalk and then another 24 steps to the road (again, who needs a stairmaster?). The hand rail was coated with ice, the steps were coated with ice.... made it to the yard only to go sliding down the sidewalk towards the long flight of concrete steps. All of this to get to the car and head to work (Job A for the day).

Ditched the car at work (daughter needed it) and commuted by foot to Job B. Roads were pretty good overall and I had the wind at my back (a blessing as it was quite strong and off the Lake). Nice break from the last two days of running which have involved a lot of running into the wind. Sigh...

Even my long run last weekend in the Cities involved wind - though much warmer temperatures! Saturday it was so warm I thought I might have to pick-up a pair of shorts for my run Sunday morning. No worries, temps were in the low 40's and the clothing I had brought along was appropriate. It was busy on the trails Sunday morning - more than I had expected (can you tell I come from a relatively small city?). Ended up running just over 13 miles in good company. Thanks Jim! Nothing like conversation to keep your mind off the blisters and the pain of running flat for so many miles ;-> Even the "flat" routes in Duluth are hilly in comparison and I was reminded how much I dislike running long on a flat course.

I have managed a few inches of knitting on the lace scarf. May even get it done and blocked in time for the silent auction. One of these days I will get some photos taken and uploaded, really I will ;->

Another project I have to get going on is a poster of local wildflowers for this springs Superior 25k/50k. Last years display of flowers was pretty spectacular and I was asked if I was willing to create a display to help other (interested) runners identify what they were seeing. The other night I sifted through my digital photos looking for spring beauty, dutchman's breeches and other spring wildflowers. Looking at the pictures reminded me of all of my hikes on the SHT with Porter. He didn't always appreciate all the photography stops - liked to keep moving more than sit around and wait for me to get just the right shot.

Still have to plan my workshop on trail running for the SHTA Annual Meeting, too. So far I have gotten a few good quotes and am always looking for more! Need to at least get an outline down and then will worry about fleshing it out later. I will be volunteering at an aid station at this years Chippewa 50K... might be a perfect opportunity to gather inspiration and information for the workshop?

Am one step closer to signing up for Trail Mix - printed out the race entry form. Leaning towards doing it, but.... any advice?