Varvel Family: December Adventures

December brought lots of fun snow adventures. I'm not getting the miles I normally do, because I'm trying to limit my running to 3 times a week or less. I've been having glute and hamstring problems for over a year, and I'm gonna see if cutting back will help it get better. We think it could be over use tendonitis issues. I've still managed to have plenty of outdoor fun though!

Dizzy Horse Backyard Ultra:

We did our first official backyard ultra at the beginning of December. In a backyard ultra, you run 4.167 miles on the hour, every hour. This is continued until only one person remains. You are eliminated when you can no longer make the time limit on a lap, or you chose not to go out and continue. I had a goal of 50 miles, but after our race in Georgia in November, I had a small disc rupture in my back. Then Mark and I got really sick. So we just felt lucky to make it to the start line. We weren't sure if we'd even be able to complete one loop. We ended up doing 7 laps and 30 miles. We were really happy with that! We could have made it one more lap, but we were trying to play it safe. The event was cold, windy, snowy, and amazing! I loved it! Such a great atmosphere; the race directors (Dan and Jeff) did an awesome job, the volunteers were fantastic, and the runners were fun and encouraging. I can't wait until next year.

A half hour til start time!

So glad we get to do these crazy things together.

Lots of bright yellow out on the course. Probably so that if they passed out, we could find them fast and drag them back before they froze. 😅

Lap 1

It was so windy!

Santa was there to cheer us on!

On our final lap, we had a beautiful sunset!

Mark, Ashley, and I died in the desert on our 7th lap. That means we started a lap, even though we knew we would not complete it in the hour time limit. We got an extra pin for doing that.

Signs like this were all over the course. 😂

Yay! Done at 30 miles. We stayed and watched the rest of the event play out. The winner went 79 miles!

Cider Bend:

My glutes and hamstrings were really bad after Dizzy Horse, so I wanted to stay on the property to run. I had to go so slow, because they felt like they were going to snap. Ugh! Mark plowed e a cool path around the property to walk the animals, and run on. It was awesome!

The canal side.

The fence line.

These cute girls were so curious, so they would run along the corral each time I came by.

Cutest little audience!

Later, Mark doubled the size of the path. He plowed zig zags in the field so I can go 1.2 miles around the property. It's an awesome loop.

My awesome running path!

Rigby Runners:

I joined the Rigby Runners for an early morning run to spell CHRISTMAS on our Strava maps. It was the coolest frosty morning. Every branch of every tree and bush was totally covered in frost. It looked so cool!

I love when the trees get like this! I kept stopping to take pictures of them.

This one was huge, and totally covered in frost.

Ahhhh, I love it!

Rigby Runners

Women's Run:

I only made it to one December Women's run. Between injuries, getting sick, and terrible roads, it was kind of a bust for me. At least the one I made it to was great! We went ice skating for a little while at a free rink downtown, and then headed out in our ugly Christmas attire to look at lights. Oh, and did I mention that the 'feels like' temperature was negative twelve? We're a special breed of people. 😂

We only lasted about 15 minutes ice skating before we got too cold. We needed to start running to get warmed up.

The Walker lights are always a favorite.

I can't believe there were 7 of us that were crazy enough to be out there.

The lights downtown are fun.

Brrrrrr!

Buck Road:

Ashley organized a Christmas Eve run on buck Road. It was a foggy day, so we couldn't see much. Great company, and great fun was had though!

I took a picture of the view for Mark. 😂

We got a little bit frosty!

Never a dull moment with these people!

Cress Creek Canal:

The day after Christmas, Mark and I did a nice, easy run on the Cress Creek Canal. It was a day for eagles. We saw three of them along the river.

I spy an eagle in the tree across the river.

Trail Hollow:

We needed a 10 miler, and Trail Hollow seemed like a good idea. It was like an arctic tundra out there! Everything was frozen. We literally ran on top of the deep snow, and it was cold and frozen enough that we didn't break through.

Running up the road on top of the deep snow.

The sky looked cool.

Nate-Tricia-Mark-Jenn-Joyce (not pictured)

Snowshoe: Cold Spring

Joyce and I spent a day snowshoeing a great trail that ended by overlooking Teton Canyon. It was too cloudy to see the Tetons, but our day was great. The trees looked amazing! I love when I literally get to walk through a winter wonderland.

The start of the trail.

In the shade we could see the actual little snowflakes. So cool!

I love snowy, frosty days in the mountains.

This tree was amazing!

Tricia-Joyce

Snowshoe: Box Canyon

Jenn, Joyce, Mat, and I snowshoed a great area in Island Park. We followed along the river in a beautiful wooded area. We saw lots of trumpeter swans, and one eagle. It was gorgeous!