Woolley Half Marathon

Technically, I finished the Woolley Half Marathon on Saturday. It really was just a pleasant long walk with Seth on the Cascade Trail. Perhaps my slowest half ever. No worries, be happy. We had a great day--beautiful ice and snow, a few birds, many friends, fresh air.

We've had snow this past week--more than in recent years, and folks have come to call it Snowmaggedon. It hasn't been that bad, but the Cascade Trail was mostly covered still, which made for a crunchy time. The standard course was changed into a double out and back, but one and done was the way to go. The temps sat around just under 40 degrees, and for the most part the skies were large, with some interesting clouds, but only a bit of rain.

Always so good to spend time with Seth. Great to really meet Ellen. Also good to see so many of my Skagit and ultra friends---Craig, Terry, Stan, Toi, Delores, Chris, and so many other familiar faces. The after race barbq on this event was/is the bomb. Terry and crew do such a great job.

Afterwards, we visited some antique shops and then made our way to Fir Island, to look at birds. We found ourselves down on the mud flat near Snow Goose. We watched eagles chase each other over scraps of food, chirping, diving, fighting. We saw a large flock of snow geese, lots of swans, a pair of herons, and other anonymous birds. There were a few moments, standing on a log and just listening to the birds fly over head, which took me away.  
 

Chuckanut

Another Saturday morning run in the Chuckanuts. Out the door close to 6:30 AM, still dark. Coffee. At the trailhead around 7 AM. Still dark, empty lot.

I climbed the hills, first up to Fragrance Lake. Then up Little Chinscraper to the Cyrus Gates overlook. Steady hiking, a bit of running. Once on the ridge, I started running, and over the next couple hours made the loop out around Lost Lake, and then back down to the car.

Misty morning. I didn't see anyone for the first hour and a half, and the upper loop was pretty empty. The final hour was packed with trail runners, many presumably out preparing for next month's Chuckanut 50k, or perhaps the Fragrance runs. A good day to be out.

I am listening to a cd course on classical mythology.  I listened to it on the way out, and then worked on trying to commit different mythical figures to memory on the run.  Gaia is the earth. Chaos is a gap or void. Zeus is Zeus. Anyway, I spent much of my run trying to apply Greek stories to my run. It didn't work that well, but the mind goes to strange places when the trail is lonely. This was a good running morning.

Coming out of the Chuckanuts, i counted 10 eagles driving. A bunch of swans flew by as well. Birds are in their high season in the lower Skagit.