Unexpectedly, my afternoon opened up (coinciding with the clouds parting to reveal a beautiful sunny day) and I was granted a baby break to get out for some fresh air. I had a few new pairs of shoes to test and it was too wet to ride my bike, so I decided pay a visit to Green. I made a few last minute phone calls to see if anybody could join and Scott J bit and ironically at the same time, I got an e-mail from Jim P about dogs on Green Mountain and informed him of the loosely timed "plan". While waiting for Scott at the Gregory TH, Jim and his dog Maya came trotting up, followed by Scott seconds later. Perfect timing.
We headed up Gregory/Ranger through the several inch deep slush and slop. I set the pace, but felt bad for going so slow, as I know I was holding those guys up, as I was struggling a bit to maintain conversation in my less fit than normal state, not to mention the slipping in the snow was a bit taxing.
The summit appeared in a sluggish 44 minutes or so, but it hardly seemed like that long, as it felt so good to be out on a snowy, sunny day with great company. We spent a few minutes on the summit, chatting about Vagisil and whether or not it is on the USADA banned substance list for ultrarunners. Kayenta.
The descent was slow and cautious and we enjoyed plenty of great conversation (27:12 down Gregory/Ranger). Back at the car, we spent a while discussing shoes (Scott was wearing some bad ass prototype Brooks light weight trail racer) and I had a trunk full of different test shoes. After parting ways, I headed back up Gregory with a new set of shoes on my feet and another on my hands to do some more testing in the ideal for testing conditions.
It was great to finally run with Scott and great to see Jim again as it has been a while. I really enjoyed having Maya along to, she is a great dog and I wished that I had Sierra along, they would have had a blast.
