Winter Training, and 2014 International Race Announcement

It's that time of the year when all the Pullman gray starts sneaking under your skin. Where's the sun? No one knows.

I spent a long weekend in Washington DC for a work conference (Annie came too, and we spent a couple extras days in town to visit her brother and sister-in-law). No break from winter there.

Mount Vernon Trail along the Potomac River
(just south of DC)

Icy Mount Vernon Trail

Then back to Pullman and more winter. When the roads are clear of ice and snow, it's nice to make the 45-minute drive down into the valley for some usually snowless trail running along the Snake River. There's a short trail system (8-10 miles of spaghetti-style trails) that can temporarily take my mind off the dozens of feet of snow covering my Moscow Mountain trails right now. 

Winter Trail Running at Hells Gate State Park, Lewiston, ID
with a couple of the dogs and a few of the guys.

The Snake River Canyon Half Marathon is a month away. I'm looking forward to using that as a gauge to see where my fitness is a few weeks out of Boston. So far I feel like training is going well, though it's difficult to get a solid long run in with snowy and icy roads to run on. I took about 15 seconds off my 5k PR a couple weeks ago, so I guess that's a good indicator that my fitness isn't too bad right now.

I'm excited about running Boston again.

----

One of my favorite things to do during winter is to daydream about all the awesome things I'll be doing during the summer. Annie and I made separate top-10 lists last year of the place we want to visit most. Greece made each of our lists, so that's where we're going this year! To keep my tradition of running a race in a new country each year, I signed up for the Mount Olympus Marathon. It's a lot like the Pikes Peak Marathon, only steeper (but at less altitude). I'm super excited about this one. Super super excited. But I'm going to hold off on my true excitement until after Boston, because I'm super excited about Boston too.

Mount Olympus Marathon, Greece

Keep running!

-Scott