Go where there is no trail, and (attempt to) make your own...

My sister moved back to Alaska in June which has been amazing.  She is probably the most hard-core trail runner and talented athlete I know!  We just started running together because I hadn't been physically ready her 4 hour adventures in the mountains until lately.  I take that back.  I thought I was ready for an adventure with her, but this morning I realized very quickly this was not going to be your average trail run.

After dropping Gavin off with his grandparents, my sister and I drove up to Glen Alps trailhead and started our trek into a dark,  winter wonderland toward Williwaw Lakes.  The temperature was perfect, the city lights twinkled in the distance, and I was feeling great.

Anchorage in the distance

After a couple of miles on a snowy, but well-packed, trail, we steered off to a single-footprint led "trail" (not even). The snow was deep and covered roots, rocks, and streams.  I may or may not have stepped mid-calf deep into an icy-cold stream just 3 miles into our trek.  My toes were numb, my ankles chafed from snow scraping them as I plunged into the snow, but my fearless leader trudged forward!

Not even kidding.  Just another day in AK.

Luckily the views were incredible with tall mountains surrounding us, light snow falling, and a pink, glowing sunrise!

We're not alone... Lynx tracks guide us forward...

1 hour and 37 minutes into the run (uhhhh but who's counting?), we decided to turn around. My legs were cold, my stomach was growling, and I was mentally done.  Have you ever had one of those days?  Where you love being out and running but you're just over it? Yeah. That was me.  I've also decided trail running involves a lot more brain power than your average run.  Avoid that rock, don't trip on that stump, don't fall in the hole/stream/bushes... (all of which happened today at one point!) Gracefulness is not my strongest quality.  Then there's watching out for animals.  We saw just one moose in the distance and Lynx tracks, so that was good!

Winter bliss. Or torture. It's a tough call :)

We made it back to the car with a lot of mental cheerleading/convincing/bribery and I was pretty excited to take my frozen toes out of my frozen shoes.  All in all, 2 hours & 45 minutes that made me a stronger person!  And it also made me appreciate my amazing sister even more than I already do for pushing to go where there is no trail and trudge forward when you're mentally wiped! Oh and I might add, she barely looked tired after the entire day.  Seriously, she's a pro.

We got home and this little wiggleworm was pretty excited to see me.  

Upside-down cutie.

There's nothing better than this smile :)