Easy weekend

On Saturday I ran a DumbAss loop backwards so I could take it easy on my bum ankle. Jenn and the kids headed out on T3 and I was hoping to meet them at the top or at least on my way back down.
The trail started out muddy then as I climbed I started to hit a few snow patched here and there. Then it really started to get fun, as I went higher I was in a zone that I'll call frozen slush. The snow was packed to about 2" thick and re-frozen. So basically just nearly clear ice, very slippery but nothing compared to what some of us (not me... edit... I'll be at Orcas) will be running in next weekend. I made it up this part unscathed by hopping around and staying near the edges.
As the snow got deeper it became much less treacherous. A couple of times I decided to cut the switchback and climb straight up for 10-15 meters (where someone had slid down packing the snow a little). After the second time I decided that it was loads of fun but too much work.
Finally I made it to the top and hung a right onto the TMT. This is where the first two falls of the day came. This trail hadn’t been used in a while so I was breaking trail, post holing the whole way, sometimes just halfway to my knee others a foot past the knee. I tried to keep a good pace (pretty much run as fast as I could) without running off the trail. The first fall was nice and soft, kind of sideways onto my knees and hip. I’m thinking, hey that was fun. So I get up and start going at the same reckless pace. A couple minutes later I fell again, this time sinking both knees deep into the snow. I’m laughing, Shela’s all over me making sure I’m ok, then I realized I’m waist deep in the snow with my feet pinned back against my rear-end and I can’t move. I finally free myself (it wasn’t really that hard) and start running again at a slightly slower pace. I called Jenn when I got to the top of T3 and found out they turned back and were sitting in the warm van waiting for me.
This freed me to run down the Nook trail instead of walking down the easy way with them. The nook was great. The conditions were the same as they were on the other side except in reverse. The soft snow gave way to frozen lumpy snow then wet slippery ice. I was moving pretty fast right before crossing the TMT and slipped, rolled, then slid to a stop. Again more fun then anything else. This time the snow made its way into places that had been warm. Brrrr!!! Pretty much right after that, the snow turned to ice so I slowed down a little. Falling on these big rocks or a root wouldn’t be much fun. I made it nearly all the way through before falling one last time. I was on a section that was smooth unobstructed ice for 12-15 feet so I just decided to slide my way down. Well just before the end my feet sped up and went flying forward without me. I put my right hand back to slow my decent. Good thing I had my water bottle in that hand, it acted as a nice airbag and prevented any damage to my hand or wrist. I think it is leaking a little now. The rest of the trail was mud so we washed off in the creek that crosses the Bus trail and headed home to warm up.
Sunday I went out for a jog down to Lake Washington and back that turned into a tempo run. The ankle only really hurts when going uphill or walking. I’ll try to take it easy this week so it’s better for Orcas.