Wonderful New Year's Day run. Mike and I met Chris Lemke and Shari at Gold Creek parking lot, and ran out the Gold Creek trail until it splits with GM6 road. Rather than head uphill on the trial as usual, we took the lower path and then the wider GM6 forest road. That kept us out of the way of horse traffic and let us run side by side slowly and chat. Chris and Shari were running really easy, and we stuck with them (10 min/miles, probably) most of the way before leaving them closer to the horse camp. At the horse camp there was a pancake breakfast, so we paid and had some pancakes and eggs and a small cup of cowboy coffee, then ran back down via Wildcat-Gold Creek trail. We didn't hit the Vista loop, but when we got on the ridge just below the view was spectacular. We saw a silouette of Mount Rainier and the trees of the Bremerton Watershed sticking out from a sea of fog that was blanketing Puget Sound. Pretty incredible scene, and there I was with no camera. Sun never came out down below today, so I'll savor the memory.
About 8 miles in 1:20 or so. Felt healthy and we sped up a bit and raced on some of the steep downhill.
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