Sunriver cheese, snowshoes, long runs, hot tubbing, and snowy walks

For Christmas this year, my aunts very generously gifted us a stay at their beautiful Sunriver home. We looked at the calendar and requested Presidents Day weekend for a little getaway.

Friday's dinner was a cheese buffet while watching the Olympics

Saturday's weather looked best, so we went into the woods for an adventure. Because there was very little snow in the area - and none fresh - we opted for snowshoes. We slept in a bit and went later in the day. The trail wasn't crowded, and the parking lot was almost empty when we finished the long loop.

Edison Shelter:

Love adventuring in my locally made Purple Rain skirts!

Sunday was run day. My schedule called for 12 miles, but I got up early with the goal of running whatever felt right - at least 6 miles. I headed down the Sunriver paths to the Deschutes River Trail and planned to run toward Benham Falls.

A little overnight snow covered the paths, but footing was solid... until I hit the trail. I didn't know the dusting covered a frozen puddle/tiny ice rink. I lost my footing and felt like a cartoon character flailing in one place, try desperately to stay on my feet. I did not stay on my feet 😬 

You can see where I bit it:

I bonked my elbow, which still hurts a little, but otherwise, I was fine. My Garmin watch knew I'd fallen and started to send an emergency alert. I didn't know it did that! I was able to cancel the alert before it sent. 🚨

I called Brad, who was still back at the house getting ready to run, and warned him that the trails were impassable. He ended up running in his Yatrax and said it worked well!

I decided to stick with the Sunriver paths and ran toward the river. I've run there enough that I have a fairly good sense of where stuff is. I just ran by feel and checked the big maps when needed.

This huge owl was hanging out by the river, so I had to stop and snap a pic:

It snowed off and on throughout my run, and I was absolutely giddy!

I finished with 12.38 miles and dubbed it my Tour de Sunriver:

It was truly a great run. My splits were even, and I felt strong the entire time. Happy runner back at the house:

The snow showers alternated with patchy sun, and I was dressed perfectly to adjust to the changing temps/wind/precip (zippers up, zippers down, gloves on, gloves off, buff on, buff off... repeat!).

Not many people were out in the weather, and I enjoyed my mostly solo adventure! We got cleaned up and then recouped in the hot tub 😻

Monday, winter finally returned! We woke to about an inch of snow, and it just kept dumping!

Brad drove his RC Jeep around the deck, and it was way more entertaining than it should have been 😆

We got out for a few casual miles in the snow before packing up and returning to real life in the valley.

A huge thank you to Kari and Vicki for this gift of a winter getaway 💓