My Muddy Valentine

Of the nine holidays I formally celebrate, Valentine's Day is my least favorite. I'm not anti–Valentine's Day, like some people are; it provides a little bit of brightness in the winter. But there's just not much to look forward to. The food is literally the best part.

Since I was able to run up North Canyon, my favorite trail, on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I thought I'd try it out for Valentine's Day, since the snowpack hasn't really improved. 

There was definitely more snow than there was on Christmas, so I opted not to go up the usual way to Rudy's Flat.

Instead I took the new Mahogany Ridge Trail up to Cave Peak. And much of the trail was muddy. I think it was muddy from the small storms we had this week, which were rain in the valley, but they appeared to have left a dusting of snow on the trail. Much of this dusting had melted (hence the mud), but there were patches in the shade that were still covered in snow.

Honestly, I can't say it was a great run. February is just not a pretty month—no wildflowers, no green, no fall leaves. Even December was prettier. I didn't like running on the mud. It was a reminder of the  terrible winter we've had this year. And I wish I had worn a hat, because the sun was in my eyes (in the summer, it's higher in the sky). But at least it was pretty easy for me.

As I was coming back down, I met an older man who asked me about the trail conditions. He wants to go to Rudy's Flat sometime, because his name is Rudy, but yesterday was not the day to do it.

I was a little disappointed to get my Halloween shoes all muddy, but they already have 294 miles on them. My run was just under seven miles.

I allowed myself to do virtually nothing for the holiday. My mom made sugar cookies, and we had our traditional pizza dinner to remember our worst Valentine's Day ever, when my mom broke her leg carrying a pizza downstairs. One of the pizzas got overcooked, but I remarked that it's better overcooked than thrown on the floor.

And I spent the bulk of the day watching Valentine's-themed episodes of various sitcoms on TV: The Simpsons, The Nanny, Frasier, Roseanne, and Bob's Burgers. That seemed to be about the best way to spend such a bland holiday.

And now that Valentine's Day is over, we can move on to the holidays that are actually fun.