10 Miler

Winner's Train- Loser's Complain. That's what we kept telling ourselves as we set out Saturday to get our 10 miles in and drove through rain, sleet and then finally snow as we headed to one of our favorite trails. That saying only got us so far, then we decided to head South to the warmer weather. It was worth the risk to make the 30 minute drive South. Although we were a little discouraged as we were driving and we saw what appeared to be rain falling in the general direction we were headed we decided we were just going to have "man-up" and run in it no matter what. As luck would have it, it ended up being a beautiful run in sunshine, none the less!

It might not have been our best run as far as the actual "running" part but it ended up being one of our most memorable and adventure filled. It's always nice to run on a new trail just for a change of scenery. However, this trail was full of excitement. It follows along a river that separates Idaho and Washington so half of our run was in Idaho and half was in Washington as we made a loop crossing bridges and then circling back to our car. We can now say that we ran from Idaho to Washington and then back to Idaho! =) We stopped and took pictures on my cell phone as we reached Washington- the quality isn't very good but at least we have some pics!

The sun was setting towards the end of our run and it was such a great way to welcome in Easter. Funny enough we were commenting on how beautiful the Washington side of the trail was and out popped the Easter Bunny. =) Then 3 more. They were not wild rabbits, they were clearly domesticated bunnies that had been dumped off there at some point and found refuge in the berry bushes. A couple of them were black and white with spots and a couple were big fat tan bunnies. They were so cute. Amanda just couldn't resist and ended up feeding them half the trail mix we carry in an effort to catch one and take it home for Easter. My loud laughter as I was rolling around watching her try to catch them didn't help the situation. She had one within reaching range and just about eating out of her hand right when a guy and his dog ran up and scared them away.

Following running into the family of bunnies we found 4 deer right on the trail, just staring at us and calmly looking around as if it were perfectly normal for them to be there and wondering why we were in their territory? So we took pictures of them as well and then took off jogging again. That didn't last long before we came across a bush full of little yellow chickadees. They were the cutest little birds and just made us smile. The wildlife was amazing and somewhat shocking considering that we were in town in comparison to where we usually run! Not long after our little yellow bird friends we came across a park with the most lush green grass that just called you to enjoy it. Manda quickly dropped to the ground and began rolling around in it and stating how much she loves the color green and has missed it so much all winter long. Of course, I took pictures.

After dragging my running partner away from the park we began to cross the last bridge heading back to Idaho and then to the parking lot where we had parked. It was a while later that Manda realized her MP3 player was no longer in her jacket pocket... can you guess where we found it? Yep, you probably guessed it- back in the lush green grassy park which was quite a ways from where we were when we realized it was missing. Well, I guess we got all of our mileage in! Too bad so much of it was spent laughing and not running, or maybe it isn't too bad. =) We ended up meeting a couple of very nice people, enjoying wildlife, took in the scenery, witnessed a couple of near accidents (guys are so dumb to watch a girl running and almost wreck, and since she is always ahead of me I get to witness it) and laughing a whole bunch. It was a great 10 miler- next weekend is going to be 11 miles but it is going to be hard to top the 10 miler!

P.S.
I am happy to report that I had NO pain in my leg or knee at all! I love my new shoes and just can't believe that shoes can make that big of a difference!!!!!