MY FIRST WINTER ADIRONDACK HIGH PEAKS

After Christmas and before New Years, Dan and I hiked our first winter Adirondack high peaks! Hiking all 46 Adirondack high peaks is a distinction in itself (I'm at 30), but hiking all 46 high peaks in the winter is on another level.

Ever since finishing my thru-hike in August, I've been keen on getting back to the mountains whenever I can (they don't exactly exist in the midwest) and I've been looking for new hiking goals to keep me motivated until the next thru-hike, so I figured winter break was the perfect time to get my Winter 46 started.

On the day Dan and I hiked, we left early in the morning to drive to Porter and Cascade - two mountains I've actually hiked in the summer before (Porter, 2013 / Cascade, 2013). Even though I've never done any "real" winter mountain climbing, the fact that I'd hiked them before coupled with roughing it in the woods for 5+ months was all it took to erase my worries. My parents felt differently (they acted like we were going to get stranded for days...), but Dan and I knew we were prepared and did our best to convince them so.

The hike itself was super icy and pretty short in terms of miles (6 miles), but it was so good! Given all the physical activity and all the layers, both Dan and I were so warm the entire time and even though the views were limited, the winter scenery more than made up for it. I love the city, but it reminded me how much I love the mountains.

SKIING

Just some pics from over the holidays when I went skiing in the Adirondacks with my family. :)

Being December on the East Coast, not much on the mountain was open and it was pretty icy with freezing rain, but it felt so good to get back out on the slopes and spend time with my family (+ some family friends on my last day up north too)!

I'm really hoping this can happen again sometime this winter while I'm in the Midwest.

8 MILES

Now that I know I'm running the Chicago Marathon in October, I've been working harder than ever to get my knee better. It seems like it's paying off too. My knee is still pretty volatile, but it's definitely getting stronger. Recently it's been pretty okay with five or six miles, so yesterday, I decided to test it out and see if it could handle eight miles.

I ran south along the lakefront and then back the same way. The paths were mostly clear after Friday night's snow, but they were still super slick. No falls though! I ended up successfully completing the eight miles and it was actually my first eight mile run in more than three years too, which was really exciting.

Even though the run felt so good, something interesting happened afterwards. After going inside, I had somewhat of an allergic reaction to the abrupt change in temperature. Apparently it's a thing. It's happened before on a smaller scale, but this time I was so unbearably itchy for half an hour. It was so weird, but it was so worth it to run through a snowy Chicago.

A SNOWY SUNDAY

On Sunday, Chicago got its first snow of the season!

Joe and I braved the elements and partook in our usual Sunday morning Stan's Donuts ritual. Even though it was snowy, there were so many people out and about!

After donuts, we went grocery shopping, and then spent the afternoon hanging at home.

Late in the afternoon, I noticed snow finally sticking to the ground, and with that I decided that I should embrace my love for the snow (I really do love it) and go for a lakefront run. The ground was slick and it was getting dark, but there were still snowflakes in the air and it was so lovely.

After my run, Joe and I ate lasagna, watched It's Always Sunny, and that was it for our snowy Sunday. I'm hoping for more of them soon!

❄  ❆  ❊