TL;DR – Ran in the snow- Awesome | ran in the mud and a tree fell on me – Also Awesome.
We had between 3-9″ or snow over the weekend in the Pacific Northwest. Personally we had no power for a few days, trees down all over the place, wet snow covered ground – ETC; basically all kinds of mess. The Rock™ has been talking to me all week telling me to not be a wimp and keep running no matter how cold and wet it is out there.
Mercer Slough in the Snow
Yesterday(Wednesday / my monday) I ran in the snow and mud, dodging trees in the Mercer slough; it was awesome. The snow did not slow me down much. Moving around tree’s is what slowed me down. Crawling around trees was fun, it was a nice change to the run. The snow also worked my ankles more due to ground being all over the place level wise. My feet were wet and cold, but oh well – Don’t want to feel the pain of regret.
Coal Creek in the Mud
Fast forward to Thursday / today and we’ve had a few inches of rain in the last 24 hours and most of the snow has melted. Snow melting, mixed with heavy rain, means the ground is extremely saturated and covered with fallen tree debris. Today I’m going for max level mud and running the hills of Coal Creek. – WOW – so many trees down over the trail, and the creek is running higher than I’ve ever experienced it.
In some places the trail has become a creek, the creek is running over the trail, or the trail has become a shallow pond. It’s so wet and muddy. Plus I’m climbing over, around, or through downed tree every few hundred feet. Great variety and adventure. I love this stuff. At one point I’m about ten feet in the air walking down a tree over a portion of trail that’s now creek, and I hear another runner asking me how the trail is behind me. I tell him about like the trees I’m standing on all the way back.
I asked how it was ahead. He said it is not as bad ahead / the direction I am headed. Then he turns around and takes off back the way he came. About 5 minutes later I made it to a tree about belly high to me. I ran at it and was going to take it like a pummel horse and jump over it. I put me hands on top of the tree and was pushing myself up when the tree snapped and rolled back into me knocking me back and rolling onto my diaphragm knocking the wind out of me.
At this point I am laying on the ground taking inventory of movable body parts making sure they move still and working how to breath with a tree mostly resting on me. I’m laying on my back in the mud. I figured now is a great time to take a selfie, email Michelle and Jer and Jer, then email work letting them know I might be a bit late / read I needed to lay here, take my time, and think a bit before doing anything drastic.
Damage report comes back green; everything appears to be working by design. Pushing up on the tree moves it a bit, feeling like it’s not 100% resting on me. The tree is laying at an angle – one direction it is closer to the ground, the other it’s further from the ground. I push up and start wiggling to the side and the tree mostly stays where it is; Excellent! escape should be simple. After a few push and wiggles I manage laying with no tree on m chest and I jerk my lower body out from under the tree – Might as well not put my head under a tree out to get me.
I’m pretty pumped up on adrenaline, still feeling motivated, not feeling any pain, and I told work I was going to be late. There’s a water fall ahead I wanted to see, so I carried on running some more..
A few more pictures from my adventure
