More snow!

First decent snow storm of the season.
Here I am at Washington Park after the run.

Only about 8 of us braved the snow, through puddles of water and slush and lots of mud, in the dark, with snow sticking to my glasses and freezing to my fleece vest.

What fun!

Other subject:
I've been wondering recently if my efforts will pay off with regards to my son. I want to show him that "impossible" is nearly always a frame of mind. When you consider not only running 100 miles, but doing so at the Hard Rock 100 at altitudes that exceed 14,000 feet, that seems impossible. If I show him it can be done, and he watches me along the way, then I hope it sinks in that you can achieve what you set your mind to.

However, he already seems to think I'm not a regular human, so maybe my running of Leadville and HardRock won't be the lesson I hope for.

He knows I climb in blizzards and that I'm comfortable in some of the harshest environments. I took him camping in the snow last year. He got to finally see me "in my element". He was almost freaked-out by camping in the woods in winter, but we were about 1/8 mile from the 4x4 CR-V, and the CR-V was stocked with jumper battery, two jacks, tow straps, come-along winch, and extra hand-warmers and survival gear. We were even within cell phone range! I dug in and built walls around the tent so the wind couldn't get to us and the walls reflected our heat back onto us. We were snug as bugs in a rug.
That night, it snowed an additional 8" and there was no wind. By morning, the trees were as totally loaded with snow as they could be. It was beautiful and enchanting.
To my son, it was just a bunch of snow, and he was wondering when he could get home to mom. He wasn't cold - I saw to that. But he had this frame of mind that kept trying to convince him that he OUGHT to be cold!
While I made breakfast, a slight breeze stirred the tops of the trees. That did it. It set in motion a chain reaction through the entire forest where the snow in the tops dropped to the branches below, which kept upsetting the snow below... The woods errupted in an amazing cascade of powder! It was awesome! And I was yelling like I usually do, "Yeah! Look at THIS!" Only this time there was someone to hear my antics. My son gave me a quizical look, like he was seeing me for the first time. Like the difference between seeing an animal in the zoo its whole life, and then taking it to its natural environment and seeing it there.

Through my life, I've seen amazing people do amazing things, but it didn't inspire me because they were not regular humans. They were gods or freaks, but I bleed, so it meant nothing to me.

I just hope this is all relevant and worthwhile, and that I'm doing something more than entertaining my son.