Day off for a Chuckanut prep run. Drove up to Skagit Valley and got to the empty parking lot around 1. Gray day, but 47 degrees and no rain, so I felt good about heading for 18 solo. Clayton Beach to Cleator Road in 40 minutes even. I was slower on the climb to Fragrance than planned, my heart was racing and I just wasn't warmed up for those hills. At Frangrance I found my first patches of snow, enough to cover the ground and make things a little slick, but not too tricky. Up Cleator Road to the gate in 22 minutes, but here's where the run went awry. Out of nowhere you hit snow where Cleator gets steep. Just 2-3 inches initially, but that was 5 by the gate and 8-10 inches at the switchbacks before the ridge entrance. I was trudging through it, picking my lines and paths through the two or three sets of footsteps in the snow, but it was tough. I started heading out the ridge, the trail was covered but not as deep because of the tree cover. The wind and rain picked up there, however, and freezing to death on that ridge alone wasn't a good plan for the day. It's pretty exposed. So I turned around. Went up Cleator to the Chinscraper trail and ran that backward. The last bit before the parking lot was snowy, but it cleared quickly in the trees there and the rest of the trail was fine. At the base of Chinscraper I did the Lost Lake trail climb backward, hit snow again but this was also quite a bit less (maybe 2-4 inches) than the road. Got to the top there and ran back down, then found Frangrance Road (hopped on at a dry point) and ran back to the parking lot. I knew I was short from skipping the ridge and the climb out of Lost Lake, so I took the Interurban for another 30 minutes. Probably 15 total. Tired but not slammed, and probably could be considered "good" after dealing with the week's fatigue and recovering from the cold. My energy uphill through the snow was encouraging, the first 1/3 of the run when I was finding a rhythm was not. 2:30:00 brooks cascadia VI -- 51
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