But before we left the house, we still had a 4 days of work to get through, plus normal workouts! And in that past week, it meant stupefyingly low temps and snow:) Sunday the Valentine was our coldest day of the year(s) - record breaking - and overnight got down to -18F. Which stayed for my Monday morning run exactly there, boy, did I freeze my eyeballs! Tuesday morning felt like a heat wave - 10F above for my Incline! Plus, it's finally getting lighter, and it was my first no-headlamp ascent/run down. Sweet! Spring is around the corner!
Or so we thought. Wednesday I buckled down for a local flat trail 14 mile run (sine we were planning to be away for the weekend), and it was surprisingly quick for the distance as far as pace was concerned - and I got a benefit of running 3 miles with Larry who bumped into me on his own run. Maybe he made me run fast! Anyway, leg workout, yoga class - and by the time work rolled, snow started! It was falling, and falling, for the rest of the day and overnight - and by morning we ended up with half a foot. As I struggled on the streets through my Thursday dark run, I thought, dang, can't pass this opportunity - and after a 5 mile run, I did a 5 mile Nordic skiing right out the door! Ha, gotta take advantage!
Now that we had arrived and started our journey, we figured out what the website map color-coding meant. The trails here were actually split, like downhill ski, into green, blue and black. Really? Yep, we quickly realized what we were in for - and couldn't have loved it more. The rolling terrain, sometime more than other, required serious skills for climbing on skis, and occasionally we had to steeply drop down. Fun, and give us more! Plus, with the views like those, everything was well worth the efforts!
We stopped at the coffee spot (Coffee Bear) we always do, and drove by the High School, where The Rock sits during the race - and where Bryon Powell of irunfar.com now resides.
We had a much better dining experience that evening, because we skipped the crazy town and stayed right next to our hotel, walking a mere 2 minutes to a near-by Texas BBQ place, unassuming joint with no fuss providing great meats (which reminded us of Rudy's in TX).
One observation about cross-country skiing in this country (as in America): it seems to be the sport of "older" people. Who are so freaking fit! I mean, you've got to LOVE doing it, because it is a hard work, and the "newer generation" seems to not really enjoy that kind of thing as a whole. When we go to Nordic skiing places, we're basically the youngest of the crowd, and we're not spring chickens ourselves. Downhill skiing, of course, is a sport of plenty of truly committed folks, but it is also one that attracts some who want to "check the box", say "done that", show off the newest expensive clothes and gear, announce to friends, post pictures...and surely taking a lift up the slope is by far much easier than huffing and puffing. Skip off the chair at the top, and take a gravity ride down. Regardless, as someone who grew up with, literally, skis attached to the feet from the age of 3, I am thrilled I have an opportunity to return to this activity, and that Larry is such an awesome partner in crime for it.
We could have skied more, but we ran out of tracks, sadly, even though we did all the loops and extensions they had to offer. Definitely the best place for cross-country skiing. We drove back to Durango and checked into our hotel, showered, and attempted to find a place to eat downtown. This was our one and only negative experience over the weekend - downtown offered only take-out, and a couple places we checked had an hour wait. What?! Plus the masks, the traffic, the metered parking, the tourists...we found a so-so place on the edge of the city and were able to sit down for a meal.
Saturday, bright and early, we were a full hour prior opening at the Purgatory. I am at a loss of word with so many explanation points to express what we both felt once we explored the mountain. By far - by very, very far - it is our favorite downhill place. So huge, so many lifts, so much variety, such incredibly long runs down to the point of burning quads sometimes, and the difficulty exactly as expected - "blue" are truly nearly "black", blacks are amazingly challenging yet if without moguls not impossible, and the views, oh, Lord, the views...I will let the photos do the talking below. We had 2 coffee breaks at different locations on the mountain (not at the base!) and skied from the opening of the lifts (even earlier, jumped in at 8:45) full day on until 3:30 last run. Our longest day for sure, and we probably still would had half of the runs left untouched.
As soon as we finished, we quickly jumped into a car and drove to Silverton 30 min away. Yep, THAT Silverton, the one where Hardrock 100 miler starts and finishes, the one where our romance blossomed, where we spent a number of summer days volunteering marking the course, tearing down the course, pacing, running, and just hiking around. It was our first time seeing this place in the winter, and we decided to use this chance. As we approached the final turn on the highway, it opened up - just as we remembered it. The memories were sweet, and the mountains seemed to be much larger looming above now that they were snow-capped.
One more thing to mention about Saturday - the weather was absolutely stunning. Sunshine, no wind at all, and just about 30F. Perfect as perfect goes. The reason to mention this is because Sunday we got a somewhat colder - and windier - conditions. Luckily for that, we had only half a day to spend skiing, as we had to drive back. So lucky that our full day on the mountains was amazing! Due to that chill factor, not many pictures were taken, obviously, but we still had a grand time (though as you can see, we never took off the buffs).
The drive home was just as wonderful and picturesque. While barely 3 days away, it felt like a long vacation, so beautiful, peaceful, gorgeous, and full of wonderful time.
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