And now, hills!

Yesterday afternoon saw some snow.  Actually, not much accumulated, but at 1pm there was plenty in the air.  I am leery of running on the road in the first place (cars! people! where do I pee?!) and the addition of the fluffy stuff had me wondering if a road run around town was a good idea.  I opted instead to venture off the mountain.  Using Google Earth, Tom helped me plot a likely running route 4,000 feet lower in Colfax, definitely out of snow's reach this day.  Later I found myself standing outside my car contemplating this sign:

At this point I took it to mean "Curvy road ahead" . . . I should have interpreted it to mean "HILLS!!!" because that's exactly what the next 8 miles proved to be.  Hilly!  Hillier than, I duuno, northern California?

Almost 1,900 feet of elevation gain in my little 8 mile run.  I was super slow, I dwaddled, peed, took water breaks and pictures.  It took me 2 hours to run this distance.  But.  I really dug in and ran it.  I motored my way up and experienced a sense of STRENGTH as I ran.  I'll have to remember this feeling and tap into it in the future.  

I would've run another 4 miles, but that would have pushed me into nighttime.  I do have plans to run at night, but not quite yet!