Candice Burt: Small miracles of balance and strength

Snow run in the mountains near Winthrop, WA

Who knew snow running was so hard? From the first few steps in the 6-8 inch+ snow I knew I was in for an epic 21 miler. Or really I thought, okay I am ready to stop! Such silly thoughts... must be ignored. Each step was a small miracle of balance and strength. My legs felt tired from the previous days run (11 miles), a regular lack of sleep, and a few months of almost weekly 50Ks. On top of that, I came into the run a bit unprepared coming from Western Washington's coastal Whidbey Island. I wore my minimal Inov-8 shoes and just barely kept my feet warm enough during the run. I admit, I KNEW this was not a good idea. I still did it. At one point I asked William and James, so what are the signs of frost bite? My toes did finally warm up after I put on an extra jacket (thank god) that I brought with me.

To give you some background, William, James, and I ran close to and on the Sun Mountain trails near Winthrop, WA during Thanksgiving weekend. Winthrop received half a foot of snow the week before, and the temperatures stayed low enough that the snow remained. We followed what at times looked like a snow covered trail and at other times looked like a snow covered field or mountain. I'm not sure how the guys knew where the trail was, but I was glad they did! A few times William and James had to stop and figure out where the trail was. At one point James led William and me up a steep mountainside covered in snow, to find the trail a bit farther up. How many more miles do we have left?

It was quite the adventure despite the many new challenges. All in all, the run took us 7 hours to go 21 miles. That's pretty freaking long. Gives you an idea of the unusual conditions!

I purchased chains for my car before I attempted Steven's Pass with my Matrix. I didn't end up needing them, luckily, even though there was snow on the pass and on the east side of the mountains.