Varvel Family: December Running

I had to take it a little bit easier for my December running, because my back was still recovering from my 50 miler. I still got in some great runs though.

IFTR Early Morning Group Runs:

The first December early morning run consisted of just me and Jenn. It was a bit chilly, but we had a great run around the river.

Yay for Christmas lights!

The second run was just me and Margaret. She actually only went to pick up her Bad Ideas of Winter stuff from Dan, but he ended up with covid, so he couldn't come. Poor Margaret didn't even want to run, but she was a trooper and went with me anyways.

Can you tell that's me and Margaret under all our gear? 😂

The 3rd week took us down Henry Canyon Road. Big group this time!

Wear Pink Wednesday!

The final week was AWESOME! We met at the mouth of Wolverine Canyon and stated up the narrows. After a few miles we left the road to start the climb up to the peak of Taylor Mountain. It was a brutal climb through the snow, the temperature (without windchill) was hovering around zero, and the wind up on the ridges was brutally cold! We had a great sunrise on the way up, the snowy views were amazing, the company great, and the run, frolic, slide back down was soooo fun! It was 11 miles of crazy, and I loved every second of it!

Heading up the narrows in the dark.

Get a load of those lashes!

That arrows shows the top of Taylor Mountain. That's where we were headed.

Leaving the road, and just starting the climb.

Look how step it is; and this was the easy part!

Beautiful sunrise over the mountains.

We just kept climbing!

Sunrise selfie!

This is my favorite picture of the whole adventure! Dan took this of Mark as they were starting up the final section. You can see just how deep the snow was in some places, and just how cool our surroundings were.

Quick selfie at the top. We stayed long enough to take this picture, and then hurried down the mountain. The wind was crazy, and it was freezing our hands and feet.

I wish I had worn a brighter color, but this picture is so cool!

Picture fun on the way back down.

We all made it back alive!
Jenn-Georgina-Tricia-Mat-Mark-Dan

Women's Runs:

Our first Women's run of the month was along the canal through town.

Our next run was one of my favorites of the year. We wear our crazy Christmas gear, and run through town looking at all the Christmas lights. We did a couple of the usual houses, but then found a great neighborhood to run through that had lots of fun lights.

Amanda-Cheryl-Georgina-Marnie-Tricia-Stacey-Larissa

Greenbelt:

Mark and Mat had a Friday off, so we all met at the Greenbelt for a run around the river.

Mat-Tricia-Carrie-Jenn-Mark

Steph was trying to meet her end of the year Strava goal, so I met her at the river a couple times to help her get some mileage. We would go right when she got off work, but it seemed so late because it gets dark so early. It made for fun Christmas lights though.

Snake River Landing.

Tricia-Steph

Jenn's Palisades Birthday Run:

We had a group run up to Upper Palisades Lake. I always love Palisades in the winter, but this time it was absolutely dreamy. This could possibly be the most magical I've ever seen it look. It was like straight off of a Christmas card! Jeff and Jeremy were camped at the Lower Lake, and had put up birthday banners for Jenn. They had party hats for us when we got there, which we continued to wear for the entire 14 miles. It was a great run! When we were done running, we went to the steak house in Swan Valley to celebrate Jenn's birthday. All around great day!

Twinners!
Mark-Carney

So pretty!

Birthday gang!

Happy birthday Jenn!

The Lower Lake

Mark

Hahaha, I love the party hats!

Upper Lake

Seriously looks like a Christmas card!

😍😍😍

Post run lunch!

Repeat Christmas Light Run:

Steph had to miss the Women's Christmas Light run, so she and I went and did it again.

Butte Night Run:

Mark and I planned a night run at the Menan Butte. I love running it in the dark, and with snow, so it was perfect!

Larissa-Brooklyn-Nate-Tricia-Steph-Mark

It was so foggy, we could barely see in front of us even with a headlamp and waist light.

There was a lot more snow than I thought there would be.

All the frozen trees and bushes looked really cool.

Larissa, Nate, and Brooklyn did the figure 8 at the top of the Butte and then headed back down to the cars. I wanted to get some elevation, so Mark, Steph, and I kept going down the service road and did 'Touching Privates.' Climbing back up the road was so foggy. We made it all the way back up to the top and didn't even realize it! We could only see a few feet in front of us. Eerie, but super cool.

Eagle Pass Road:

Jenn and I met for a cold morning down Eagle Pass Road.

Boise:

Got in a hike while we were visiting for Bailey's graduation.

Mason-Bailey

Mark-Tricia

Trail Hollow- Christmas Star:

Mark and I ran Trail Hollow the night the Christmas Star was visible. We had a great view of it for most of our run. There were tons of people parked off Sunnyside Road taking pictures of it.

The Christmas Star

Christmas Eve Run- Eagle/Bone Yuletide Yog:

We did an IFTR Christmas Eve group run. There were 8 of us that all went different distances. Mark and I went down Eagle Pass Road, up Trail of Bones, along Kepp's Ridge, and back via Bone Road. It was our coldest run of the season so far.

The 'feel like' was -8, but I stayed nice and toasty the whole time.

Kepp's Ridge

We got on the ridge right as the sun was coming up behind us.

Palisades Creek:

We made a last minute decision to run Palisades Creek to get Steph and Mark the rest of their miles for 2020. Holy moly, we got more than we bargained for. The overnight storm dumped a lot more snow than we thought. It was cold and tough with the deep snow, but a great day! We saw a moose bedded down just above the trail. She was cold too, and probably wasn't thrilled about getting up when she saw us coming. She was still there on our way back down, so she must have laid right back down.