There are no lift lines and - more often than not- you get the best snow. If you're very lucky you'll even get...corduroy. Mmmmmmmmm! Overnight most resorts groom the hills and the machines they use create tracks that make the hills resemble giant pant legs of corduroy fabric. Along with fresh powder, corduroy is pure joy to ski on.
Okay, it's summer and what does this have to do with running?
Well, today I rose at 5 a.m. to do my 11-mile long, slow run. At first I hit snooze on my iPod Touch. Five more minutes. Just five more minutes of sleep. But I couldn't go back to sleep and in that five minutes I tried to find every excuse in the book to postpone my run to later this evening! (I'm sure I'm not the only one who's done this!) Seeing as I couldn't come up with a good excuse, I begrudgingly peeled myself out of my warm bed. The B was still sleeping so I was extra quiet.
I wanted to beat the heat and humidity. And as I ran I saw a few others doing the same thing. I realized that, like skiers who hit the slopes early and early birds who get the worms, morning runners get the best road. By this I mean virtually no traffic, reduced smog and less heat and humidity.
In the quiet and stillness of the morning, my senses were heightened. I ran to the tweets and twitters of birds getting their breakfast, the soft sounds of rolling waves hitting the beach and the rising sun gently peaking out from a few clouds. It rained last night and so the air was a bit damp and the ground a bit moist. I even stopped to savour the beauty of the reflection of the rising sun in a giant puddle. (I wish I had my camera!) Needless to say it was a beautiful and peaceful experience that erased the torture of an early morning wake-up call.
I did another negative split - thanks in part to my heart rate training and for the last mile, I was even able to kick it up a notch and ran close to race pace. I came home, sweaty and was pleased. I had managed to finish my run before the Lunchie got up.
Niiiice.
