good things

What a fun couple of weeks I have had! I have played in the snow more in the past month than I have in the past seven years. Now that I no longer own an SUV, this is how I transport our skis. Thank goodness for the little things and little people! John’s skis would be in the front seat if we tried this.

After our snowshoeing adventure, Priscilla and I decided to try cross country skiing the following weekend. We traveled to Trillium Lake and enjoyed it so much we decided to have another go this weekend at Teacup. It was an unusually warm day, notice our lack of gloves and heavy coats. Entirely different than the previous weekend we spent snowshoeing in the backcountry.

Cross Country Skiing at Trillium Lake

That night our supper club hosted a Sprinkle for Shannon. She is expecting a little girl any day now! We wanted to do something special for her so we spiced up our monthly dinner with some extra special touches. I made menus for each place setting, Sally got crafty with a banner, and we sprinkled Shannon with lots of fun girly gifts for the mom to be (again)!

About a month ago I booked a place for us in Bend, Oregon to take John skiing at Mt. Bachelor for his 30th birthday. IT WAS AMAZING! We woke up Saturday and skied nonstop all day until they rang the cowbell and closed the last lift. You could not wipe the grins off our faces if you tried. We had a blast together, even if I’m not as good of a skier as John. We purchased these Silipints (made in Bend, OR – I highly recommend them) and John made us cocktails for our aprés ski back at the lodge. That night we went to dinner at 900 Wall and brought our own bottle of White Rose Pinot Noir we purchased Fall 2011 to toast to a great decade and the beginning of a new one. John’s Birthday Bash in Bend was quite a success. I already can’t wait to go back.

Mt Bachelor, Outback Lift, Day 1

Mt Bachelor, Kangaroo Run, Day 2

I should have taken more photos but to be honest, I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was just so excited we had the weekend to ourselves. I’m a decent skier but have A LOT to work on so I decided to add another goal to my long list of things to do in the Pacific Northwest : purchase skis this summer and ski at least 10 times a season for the next 3 we will be here. Sounds doable, right? I am one determined snow bunny.

We officially have 10 more days until we head back down south. Speaking of, I can’t seem to get this song out of my head…

good things,

Snowshoeing!

Last weekend  I went snowshoeing with Priscilla at Mirror Lake. Ritter bought her snowshoes for Christmas and she was itching to try them out. John was on call all day so I taught a mid-morning spin class, picked up some rentals from REI, and we hit the road. We had a BLAST! I tried to take photos but they just didn’t do it justice. Mirror Lake is tucked back in a valley opposite Mt. Hood. Named Mirror Lake because it reflects Hood on its surface– on a clear day that is. Last Saturday the lake was buried under several inches of snow. It was beautiful. Looking forward to doing more snowshoeing in the future and making it back to Mirror Lake for camping this summer.

Hiking back from Mirror Lake.

Sun setting over the hills.

We stopped on the way home to warm up over a hot buttered rum!

I rounded off my weekend with another solid 18 miles of trails on Sunday and a fun dinner with John’s coworkers. I spent Monday in complete, well-deserved, recovery mode. Mainly to gear up  for another fun (long) weekend ahead. This time we are going cross country skiing! And I need to do 20 miles ALL on trails. Big gulps.

Soaking up this snow,

running update

I wanted to take the opportunity in this post to catch you up on my running over the past few months. I haven’t talked about it much because I think that in the back of my mind I am a tad nervous my old injury is going to rear its ugly head. But in reality, things are great. They are actually better than I can remember. I’m up to 40-50 miles a week, pain-free and working on the quality of my miles not the quantity.

On December 20th, when the clock struck 8am (PST), I clicked register on the Gorge Waterfalls 50K website. All 330 spots sold out in a record 75 minutes. I remember not really thinking too heavily about my decision. I believe that’s how the best decisions are made. I could have sat there for those 75 minutes thinking about how we have trips coming up and I will miss several long group runs due to bad timing and I will be forced to run solo. How I now teach 3-4 spin classes a week and my body is going to reach a whole new level of fatigue, and how I will have to tackle miles late at night or in the early hours of the morning due to class scheduling. How it’s rainy season and almost all of my runs will be in the pouring down, freezing rain on the mud-laden trails and it will take a divine act to get me out the door some every day. How it’s an elevation gain of almost 6,000ft… I think that speaks for itself. And how I would be signing up for said 50K race all alone. Ok, so maybe all those thoughts came flooding over me AFTER I clicked the magic button. Regardless, come March 30th I can check another item off my bucket list.

I am on week 5 /16 of my training plan and it’s been smooth so far. Hills and long runs and core training. My 16 miler turned to 18 on Sunday and I was surprised at how great I felt towards the end. Not only physically but also mentally. I arrived back on the porch 3 hours later– just as proud as when I ran my first marathon 8 years ago. It was emotional and encouraging for me all at the same time. Bottom line, I’ve still got it.

I am 4th on the wait list for the Mt. Hood 50 (Mile) in July and fairly confident I’m in.

I am determined to make turning 30 look good.

Running very happy these days,

holiday recap

Happy New Year!

My holiday was such a fun, memorable one! I got to show off Portland, take the group to wine country, ski for a few days and eat some delicious food. Everyone left Christmas Day and I had off work the following week so I was able to get in some great running and a nap or two. I know, so unlike me. Unfortunately, John has been working more than he ever has. I wish there was something I could do to get him out of there. On New Years day I picked up our favorite southern meal from the Screen Door (same place we had dinner at on New Year’s last year) and we had a date night full of friend chicken, greens, hoppin john, and cornbread smack in the middle of the hospital cafeteria. Crazy thing, didn’t bother me a bit, I was just happy to see him 🙂

Here are a few photos from Christmas and New Years

ENT Christmas Party

Hood Vista for the long weekend.

Wine tasting at Willakenzie.

Skiing at Mt. Hood Meadows

New Year’s dinner at Jameson

Alice Wells Johnson

This little angel arrived on Sunday afternoon. I cannot tell you how excited I am to meet her in just six short weeks. Congrats Courtney and Sim, that is one lucky baby to have such great parents!

Hope your new year has been off to a great start. Love to all of you!

xoxox,