On the Saturday of this past Easter weekend, Matthew and I brought the kids to Apex for our last day of skiing for this season. The hill was open on Sunday, but we had Easter service, and it was opened Monday, but I had to work and Matthew had to work, too, so Saturday was THE LAST DAY.
What a day it was! It had snowed on Friday, which meant we had fresh powder, and Saturday saw us skiing in said powder, with deep blue sunny skies and white fluffy clouds. If you could have asked for the most perfect day to be your last day of the season, THIS WAS IT. We ripped down a number of runs as a family, Nathan and I did a run as Matthew (on the tail end of a head cold) hung out with Graham and Emily who needed a rest, Matthew did a run with the dudes as Emily and I sat out, and then Matthew and I did two runs together while the kids hung out with friends in the village. And then, we all decided it was time to go because we were tired, Emily especially.
But then! We saw Nathan’s teacher, whom he’d been hoping to ski with! And Emily wanted to go, too! And so all of us did a (rather hard) blue run together! And then at the very bottom of the hill, when going zero KM per hour, my baby girl did a face plant. Her being facedown in the snow + her wailing = four members of the ski patrol coming to make sure she was OK. They soon understood that she was just done, and not DONE. They were all parents and we exchanged some quips about the situation.
I love Apex, and the people who ski there.
Face plant aside, we had such a great day and I’m sad that I won’t be able to ski for at least seven months. I’ve written so many posts about my hatred of winter, yet here I am mourning its passing. Yeah, I DON’T KNOW EITHER. Clarification: I’m sad that winter is over on the ski hill. I have no love for snow and cold down here below.
On that note, the snow has finally melted off of the (Trans Canada) trail that is a four-minute walk from our house. I bought a gym membership this winter so that I could run on the treadmill on my lunch hour and keep up my endurance, and while watching TV on the treadmill is good, and not starting from scratch in the spring is even better, I’ve missed running OUTSIDE. On Sunday afternoon, I took the dogs for a 5K run. OUTSIDE.
(Side note: For the past six months, if I put on my workout gear to exercise to a DVD, Diesel would get SO excited, thinking we were going for a run. Body wiggling, tail thumping, doggy smiling. It was so great to not disappoint him for a change.)
(Side note two: He’s had plenty of exercise in the meantime, between family walks and Matthew taking out the ATV and having Diesel run alongside him.)
Back to the OUTSIDE run! It was GLORIOUS. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and I was breathing fresh air instead of the rank air emitting from the dude on the treadmill in front of me. Hover over the photo to read how excited I was.
I know that there are people out there who eye runners with suspicion, thinking that we must be putting on a show. Nope. I LOVE running. Love, love, love it. I had a few years where my knees would not cooperate and I missed running. HUGE. I’m so glad to have it back.
On that note (Ha!) if you have some good running/workout songs to recommend, I will be forever grateful. My iTunes selection is woefully outdated and I need good tunes. Help a girl out, if you could.
*Title courtesy of @ohjennymae, who left this comment on that top photo on Instagram: “I see a swan!”
