Lost Lake (again)

I swear, this is quickly becoming my favorite trail run in Seward. I still miss the Chugach Mountain trails up around Anchorage so, so much, but Lost Lake is getting to me. It was a bit rough Sunday: The bottom portion was slick with patches of bare ice, and the upper areas had deep snow. There was a single path that was runnable, though at times it narrowed down so that I was forced to take very slow and short strides.

Still, it was worth it. Here's the view from the park service cabin, about a third of the way up the mountain:

Ran this in the evening with the dog, no one else around; we had the trail to ourselves. I hit the top right at twilight and got to see the moon coming up over the mountains behind us. Tried taking a picture but had the camera on the wrong setting and my hands were too cold to mess with it.

My blurry moon pic:

It looks like a space ship hovering above the mountains, eh? Imagine aliens watching me run down the mountains, snow up to my knees when I stumbled off the path. "Whatever is she doing?" they would wonder. "Is she being punished for something? Has she been banished by her tribe to this cold and empty place?"

Of course, it's not an empty place. The beauty of the mountains in the winter is immense, everything soft and muted, the bears hibernating (hopefully), the air so cold and clean.

It was dark by the time I hit the last mile, mostly through thick spruce forest, and even with my headlamp the footing was iffy: Snow one minute, ice the next, frozen mud the next. If not for the dog I think I would have become hopelessly lost, but The Beebs was able to pick up the trail, even in rough spots. Cooked her a nice piece of chicken when we got home, which she attacked while I mircrowaved my veggie burgers.

(Sad news: Think I fractured my finger. Slipped on the ice while walking the dog, which is SO depressing. I'm typing this with one hand. Of all the rugged mountain runs I've been on and then I break my finger walking the dog down the road; it's embarrassing.)

Running:
Sunday: 5 miles, trails
Monday: 5.5 miles, roads
Tuesday: 5 miles, with three mile repeats at 7:30 pace

Reading:
Still hopelessly and utterly in love with Ana.

Writing:
Mostly work stuff but did manage to revamp a scene in Chapter Five (one more chapter and I'm done--hooray!!)