SKIING FUN

The view south from Ridge Run at Mt. Hood Meadows on Saturday. That's Mt. Jefferson 50 miles away.

This weekend was a lot of fun and it didn't involve running. Since it is active, and I really liked it, I'm going to write about it. After the Shamrock Run I didn't run all week because I wanted my legs to heal up and be rested for Saturday, when I was going to go skiing with Katie. She bought two discounted passes at one point a few months ago and we had been waiting for a lull in our running training/races in order to go up to the mountain. Turns out that was this last weekend and it couldn't have been a much better day.

I last went skiing two years ago, so I felt pretty confident in my ability to get back up there. It wasn't the five year gap I had previously. We left at 7am and were at Mt. Hood Meadows by 8:40 or so. I had to rent equipment, so I went and did that while Katie exchanged our voucher for passes. By the time that was complete and we went back to the car to get our gear on it was nearly 9:30. No sweat though, we had an entire day of skiing ahead of us!

Speaking of sweat... it was warm. Definitely spring skiing. The temperature when we started was probably 42 or so and by the end of the day it was something like 48. I was pretty warm in my ski pants and jacket. There were times waiting for a lift in the sun where I nearly overheated. Once I got on a lift or skiing down the mountain though I was just right temperature wise. The snow was pretty good in the morning, but by the afternoon it got a bit sloppy. Still enjoyable to be out there though.

It was a lot of fun! My two favorites runs were the following:

• From Mt. Hood Express, take Ridge Run to Beaver Tail. I remembered really liking this run last time I was up there and it didn't disappoint. A magical journey through the woods and a couple nice steep hills where you can really get going.

• From Vista Express, take Vista Ridge. Apparently anything with "ridge" in it is golden. I really like this run, because it is very aptly named. You are skiing right along the ridge of the canyon between Meadows and Timberline. This is also above the timberline, so you feel out in the open, and on a clear day, like the one we had, the views were awesome. Plus, its meanandering nature means you get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of distance.

Like last time I went skiing, I left thinking "that was a lot of fun, I need to do that more often." Now, I'm not going to kid myself into thinking I'll actually do that... but maybe. Before I was pretty concerned about keeping up my running during the winter, but recently, I don't care so much. Winter is pretty dreary on the running front, I've complained about that a lot, so what if I skiied instead? I could still run once or twice a week in the gym so I don't get too out of running shape. I'd need my own equipment ($$$) and a season pass ($$$) to really commit though, so we'll see.

Anyways, to be continued. If I could score some cheap equipment I could potentially see it happening. However, I'd also put the likelihood of me following through well below 50 percent. My legs felt pretty decent up on the mountain and also once I got back. Definitely sore in a few new places on Sunday, but nothing too bad. Katie wore her Garmin during the day so it was fun to see us swish around the mountain on that.