Salida Run

I almost didn't run Sunday's invitation-only race in Salida. We just got several inches of snow, and my ankle can't take running on crazy trails, especially in snow where I can't see what I'm stepping on.
I went to look at some webcams, but they all had snow except for the one right by the start of the race, which was clear.
So I loaded my optimism into the CR-V and headed for Salida.
There was lots of snow on the drive up.
I stopped at Kenosha Pass for a couple of high-altitude miles in the snow. I found two guys stuck in the snow. They sure were surprised to see a guy in running shorts! They had no winch, they had no come-along, they had no shovel. What they had was a Bronco and a Pathfinder that were both stuck in snow and ice. Hell, my CR-V could drive up that stuff!
They were spinning their tires, which defeats traction and just glazes the snow into more ice. I helped push them out and then ran back to my car and hit the road. Check out all the snow...
I drove across the front of a storm all the way through South Park. It seems that there's always a storm every time I drive through South Park. It's the most hellacious place on Earth to live, I swear!
Then I drove to a remote spot off the highway between Salida and Buena Vista to sleep the night. Check out my CR-V motel...
Sunday morning, the weather was awesome! There was no snow in Salida, and only occasional traces in the hills around. It was a fantastic race.
Tom S. put it on. He did a great job of making a map with typed directions on the back. I still managed to get off-course shortly and lost maybe 3-5 minutes. It made no difference. So many people got temporarily lost, or stopped for photos, or just plain got lazy and started hiking. It was basically a fun run. It totally was lots of fun.