The hardest thing about training for the Eugene Marathon has been the weather. While the rest of the country is experiencing spring, it's still very much winter here. And even when the sun shines, there's wind. Sunday's weather was 26 degrees with 9 MPH winds. And those were GOOD conditions.
We've been running on the East River Road, a two-lane road that parallels Highway 89, in the Paradise Valley. Over the course of my 18-miler, it was sunny, they snowy, then sunny, then snowy.
As I pounded out the miles, I saw my first mountain bluebird,
which means spring really is around the corner (somewhere, somewhere). I also had an entire herd of mule deer cross the road in front of me, and apparently ran right past a moose in the river that I was too tired to see.
For about a mile I ran alongside a herd of elk, running above me on the mountainside.
The weather is harsh, the hills are killer, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful place to run.
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